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tihxaxy  of  t:he  theological  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
ROBERT  ELLIOTT  SPEER 


BV  220  .T8  1900 
Trumbull,  H.  Clay  1830-1903. 
Illustrative  answers  to 
prayer 


^,u^^//-- 


,.Uit  a~  f~-^  ^  f 


'^H^ 
^•^^.j^ 


ILLUSTRATIVE  ANSWERS 
TO  PRAYER 


A  RECORD  OF  PERSONAL 
EXPERIENCES^ 


DEC    16  1964 


BY 


H.    CLAY    TRUMBULL 

\uthor  of  "  Prayer  :  Its  Nature  and  Scope  ;  "  '*  War 
Memories  of  an  Army  Chaplain,"  etc. 


NEW   YORK  CHICAGO  TORONTO 

FLEMING   H.    REVELL    COMPANY 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


CorTKIGKT,  XQO* 
BY 

H.  CLAY  TRUMBULL 


preface 

If  any  are  unwilling  to  believe  that  God 
hears  the  particular  prayers  of  his  trustful 
children,  and  is  ready  to  grant  them  spe- 
cial answers,  proportioned  to  their  needs 
and  their  faith,  these  pages  are  not  for 
them.  These  narrations  are  not  offered  as 
proof  of  the  unprovable;  they  are  not 
written  to  change  the  belief,  or  the  non- 
belief,  of  unbelievers. 

If,  however,  any  are  glad  to  be  reassured, 
by  the  testimony  of  a  brother  believer  and 
fellow-disciple,  of  the  truth  that  our  Father 
in  heaven  is  as  ready  now  as  in  Bible  days 
to  hear  and  to  answer  the  prayers  of  his 
earthly  children,  according  to  their  need 
and  their  faith,  these  pages  are  for  them. 
These  narrations  are  proffered  as  testi- 
monies of  one  who  knows  whom  he  has 
believed,  and  who  has  had  constant  and 
repeated   experience   of   his    Father's   un- 


IPrefacc 

varying  love.  They  are  offered  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  encourage  and  strengthen 
the  faith  of  readers  who  do  believe. 

In  a  former  volume,  entitled  "  Prayer : 
Its  Nature  and  Scope,"  I  have  given  my 
views  of  prayer,  its  duty,  its  essential  limi- 
tations, its  privileges,  its  perils,  and  its 
comforts.  In  this  volume  I  record  some 
of  my  personal  experiences,  or  the  experi- 
ences of  those  whom  I  have  known  or 
known  of,  as  illustrative  of  such  prayer  as 
God  welcomes  and  honors  on  the  part  of 
those  who  feel  their  need  of  him,  and  who 
trust  him  according  to  his  word.  The  two 
volumes  really  belong  together,  each  being, 
in  a  sense,  the  complement  of  the  other. 

I  send  out  this  volume,  like  the  other, 
with  the  prayer  that  God  will  bless  it  to 
its  readers  according  as  its  teachings  are 
sanctioned  by  his  Word  and  Spirit. 

H.  C.  T. 

Philadelphia, 
June  8,  igoo. 


Contenta 

I 


rASK 

Expecting  Answers  to  Prayer  ....       i 


II 
Boyhood  Lessons  of  Trust  in  God    .     .       5 

III 
Sleighing  that  Strengthened  my  Faith     ii 

IV 
Knowing  God's  Voice  when  He  Speaks  .     19 

V 

Children  Guided  on  a  Scotch  Moor     .     33 

VI 
God  Deciding  my  Place  in  War  Time   .     39 

VII 
Led    Unmistakably    to     the     Editor's 

Chair 47 

VIII 
God's  Protection  of  One's  Good  Name     57 

IX 
Given     a     Treasure     in     Friend     and 

Helper 65 

V 


Contents 

X 

TAGM 

Teaching     Lessons     of    Trust    to     my 

Helper 75 

XI 
Taught  Lessons  of  Faith  by  my  Helper     81 

XII 

God's    Tenderness    with     a     Doubting 

Truster 89 

XIII 
Trusting  God   rather  than  a  Child  of 

God 99 

XIV 
Similar     Experiences    by    Personal 

Friends 105 

XV 
Prayer    of    a    Soldier     Prisoner    An- 
swered   in 

XVI 
How  God  Led  the  Leaders  in  the  Cen- 
tennial Exhibition 121 

XVII 
Help    in    the    Night    Prayed   for,  and 

Sent 137 


VI 


iBxpccttna  Hnswers  to  prater 

God  is  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day 
and  forever.  The  Bible  record  abounds 
with  illustrations  of  specific  answers  to  ex- 
plicit prayers  by  those  who  called  upon 
God  in  their  need,  and  who,  in  his  service, 
were  answered  according  to  their  needs 
and  their  trust. 

The  same  God  who  gave  answer  to  the 
prayers  of  Abraham  and  Jacob  and  Moses 
and  Gideon  and  David  and  Elijah  and 
Peter  and  Paul  and  Cornelius,  according  to 
the  Bible  record,  is  as  ready  to  give  an- 
swer, according  to  his  promises,  in  our  day 
as  in  theirs.  A  host  of  living  witnesses  can 
bear  testimony  to  God's  unvarying  fidelity 
in  this  sphere  of  his  universal  sway. 

All  this  is  strictly  within  the  operation 
of  natural  laws,  as  God  sees  and  controls 
natural  laws,  although  in  finite  man  it  re- 


miustrative  answers  to  prater 

quires  the  eye  of  faith  to  perceive  that  the 
natural  is  subordinate  continually  to  the 
supernatural.  The  trustful  child  of  God 
can  realize  that,  according  to  God's  order- 
ing, faith-filled  prayer  is  as  truly  one  of 
the  providential  forces  in  nature  as  is  elec- 
tricity ;  and  that,  in  conformity  with  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  God's  promises  with 
reference  to  such  prayer,  the  greater  force 
may  as  truly  operate,  on  occasions,  for  the 
advantage  of  a  particular  child  of  God,  as 
does  the  lesser  force  when  that  child  sends 
a  personal  message  and  receives  a  specific 
answer  over  the  wires  of  the  telegraph  or 
of  the  long-distance  telephone. 

One  who  believes  that  the  "  laws  of  na- 
ture," by  their  very  mention,  presuppose 
the  existence  and  control  of  an  intelligent 
Lawgiver,  cannot  conceive  of  that  Law- 
giver as  unable  or  unwilling  to  have  his 
laws  operate  in  particular  providences,  as 
well  as  in  general,  for  the  help  of  those 
who  come  to  him  in  accordance  with  his 
specific  directions.     Reasonable  men  must 


iBipectlne  Answers  to  ipra^et 

believe  that  God  can  control  and  direct 
his  laws  at  least  as  well  as  man  can  control 
and  direct  laws  which  he  makes.  There- 
fore it  is  that  so  many  of  God's  chil- 
dren come  to  their  Father  in  faith-filled 
prayer,  expecting  to  receive  specific  an- 
swers to  their  prayers,  and  are  not  dis- 
appointed. 

Faith  rests  not  on  prayer,  but  on  God. 
Prayer  is  merely  one  of  the  means  of 
communicating  with  God  ;  yet  prayer  is 
not  the  only  means.  Faith  is  more  than 
reason,  but  faith  is  ever  reasonable.  As 
Dr.  Mark  Hopkins  expressed  it :  "  Faith 
takes  God  at  his  word,  and  surely  that  is 
reasonable.  It  is  the  most  reasonable  thing 
in  the  world  to  believe  that  God  will  do  as 
he  has  promised."  Such  reasonable  faith 
is  the  basis  of  all  proper  prayer. 

God's  specific  promises  of  answer  to 
faith-filled  prayer,  as  given  by  Jesus  Christ 
to  his  disciples,  are  none  of  them  uncon- 
ditional and  absolute.     All  of  them  have 

well-defined  limitations  within   their  very 
3 


HUugtratlve  Bnawets  to  iptaieet 

form  and  letter,  which  limitations  are  as 
important  as  the  main  promise  itself.  Yet, 
strange  though  this  be,  the  limitations 
affixed  to  Christ's  specific  promises  of  an- 
swer to  prayer  are  often  ignored  by  his 
professed  followers  when  they  would  seek 
or  claim  an  answer  to  prayer ;  and  because 
of  this  ignoring  they  wonder  or  doubt  as 
to  the  uncertainty  that  seems  to  attach  to 
the  promise.^ 

The  personal  testimony  borne  in  the 
following  pages  to  God's  fidelity  to  his 
promises  in  particular  instances  is  offered, 
not  to  prove  to  doubters  that  God  is  ever 
as  good  as  his  word,  but  to  confirm  the 
faith  of  those  who  believe,  and  who  are  glad 
to  have  their  imperfect  trust  confirmed. 

1  See  Prayer :  Its  Nature  and  Scope,  by  same  Author,  for 
a  treatment  of  "  Prayer  a  Providential  Force  in  God's 
Plan,"  "What  to  Pray  for,  and  Why,"  "Limitations  of 
the  Right  of  Prayer,*'  "  Praying  in  Faith  better  than  Faith 
in  Prayer,"  "  Mistaking  Presumption  for  Faith,"  etc. 


II 

3Bo5boo^  %CB5on5  of  Zvnst  in  6o^ 

What  can  be  firmer  as  the  basis  of  a 
boy's  intelligent  faith  in  God  than  the  ex- 
plicit promises  of  his  Father  in  heaven  as- 
sured to  him  by  a  godly  mother,  and  con- 
firmed by  her  testimony  as  to  that  Father's 
readiness  to  make  good  his  word  in  our 
day  and  sphere  ?  Such  a  basis  was  given 
to  me  in  my  boyhood  days  by  my  mother, 
and  that  basis  has  not  failed  me  from  then 
until  now. 

Bible  promises  and  Bible  stories  were 
told  to  me  by  my  faithful  and  faith-filled 
mother  before  I  had  read  them  for  my- 
self; and  they  seemed  all  the  truer  to 
me  because  she  said  they  were  true,  and 
surely  I  could  never  question  or  doubt  my 
mother  or  my  mother's  words  !  Then  she 
added  to  the  sure  promises  of  God  her 
confident  testimony  of  much  that  she  had 
5 


illustrative  Bnswerg  to  ipraiser 

known  of  God's  willingness  to  hear  and  to 
answer  the  prayers  of  his  children  in  their 
need  and  their  faith,  and  she  enjoined  it  on 
me  to  trust  God  ever  accordingly.  Thus 
I  came  to  know  and  to  trust  Him  who,  in 
our  dependence  and  need,  is  ready  to  min- 
ister to  his  children  "as  one  whom  his 
mother  comforteth."  One  incident  which 
my  mother  recited  to  me  out  of  the  ex- 
perience of  a  neighbor  of  hers,  impressed 
indelibly  upon  my  mind  the  truth  that 
God  is,  in  our  day,  the  God  of  the  widow 
and  the  fatherless,  as  ready  to  hear  and  to 
answer  faith-filled  prayers  as  he  was  in  the 
days  of  Elijah  and  Elisha. 

My  boyhood's  home  was  on  the  New 
England  seacoast,  at  a  point  where  Long 
Island  Sound  opens  into  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  Seventy-five  or  a  hundred  years 
ago  there  was,  in  a  New  England  village, 
no  such  wide  distance  between  the  rich  and 
the  poor  as  nowadays  there  is  in  many  a 
prosperous  community.  Few  families  had 
household  servants.    Servants,  indeed,  were 


So^booD  %cseone  of  ^ru5t  In  (3oO 

not  then  known  there  as  a  class.  Families 
who  were  "  better  off"  than  their  neighbors 
were  accustomed  to  call  on  the  women  and 
girls  of  those  neighbors  to  act  as  "  help  " 
in  household  work,  such  as  washing  and 
baking  and  house-cleaning  and  sewing  and 
nursing.  Men  and  boys  who  were  not  in 
any  particular  trade,  or  who  were  not  on 
the  water  as  sailors  or  coasters,  were  accus- 
tomed to  do  service  for  their  well-to-do 
neighbors  as  "  help  "  in  planting  and  har- 
vesting and  wood-chopping,  and  other  odd 
jobs.  Thus,  while  most  were  enabled  to 
get  along  day  by  day  moderately  well, 
there  was  at  times  a  family  where  a  widow 
and  her  fatherless  children,  or  others,  would, 
through  special  circumstances,  be  pressed 
for  means  of  support  beyond  the  knowl- 
edge of  their  neighbors. 

Such  a  family  lived  not  far  from  my 
mother  and  grandmother,  in  a  house  often 
pointed  out  to  me  as  I  heard  the  story 
afterward.  The  mother  and  her  two  chil- 
dren served  and  trusted  God,  and  did  the 
7 


miustrativc  Bnswcrs  to  ipta^ser 

best  they  could  for  themselves,  as  they 
found  opportunity,  in  doing  such  work  as 
their  neighbors  could  furnish  them.  But 
at  one  time  the  mother  found  herself  in 
extremity.  As  a  stormy  night  shut  in  she 
had  not  a  particle  of  food  for  the  next  day's 
need.  When  they  lay  down  that  night, 
she  prayed  with  her  children,  without  tell- 
ing them  of  her  helplessness — for,  indeed, 
she  was  not  helpless  while  she  trusted  God 
as  her  helper.  With  the  new,  bright  morn- 
ing the  mother  prayed  for  their  daily  bread, 
assured  that  her  Father  could  supply  it — 
as  he  alone  knew  how. 

She  asked  her  children  to  go  down  to 
the  shore  before  breakfast,  and  get  some 
clean  sand  from  the  beach  for  their  sitting- 
room  floor.  Before  the  days  of  woolen  car- 
pets, in  the  humbler  New  England  homes 
they  were  accustomed  to  strew  sand  on 
the  floor,  and  to  ornament  the  borders  by 
arranging  it  in  figures  with  a  broom. 
When  the  children  had  gone,  the  mother 
again  kneeled  and  prayed  for  their  daily. 


:fl5oi2boo&  Xessons  of  Zxnet  in  (5oD 

bread.      After  this   she  spread  the  break- 
fast-table, for  which  she  had  no  food. 

Suddenly  the  children  returned  without 
the  sand,  but  bringing  gleefully  a  nne  fish, 
which  they  had  found  in  a  hollow  of  the 
beach,  as  left  by  the  outgoing  tide  after 
the  storm,  and  which  they  together  had 
captured.  As  w^ith  a  grateful  heart  she 
thanked  God  for  his  goodness,  and  began 
to  prepare  the  fish  for  their  breakfast,  she 
was  called  to  the  door  by  a  visitor. 

A  man  from  the  country  above  the  vil- 
lage had  called  to  say  that  on  one  occa- 
sion her  husband,  now  dead,  had  done 
some  work  for  this  man  for  which  he 
had  not  been  paid.  The  man  had  now 
brought  a  bushel  and  a  half  of  corn-meal 
to  give  the  widow  on  account,  promising 
to  bring  more  by  and  by.  As  with  swell- 
ing heart  the  mother  thanked  the  donor, 
and  brought  the  meal  into  their  now 
doubly  glad  home,  she  told  the  children  of 
how  God  had  answered  her  prayer,  and 
they  kneeled  together  to  give  him  thanks. 
9 


HUuBtratipe  Bnswers  to  prater 

Then  she  hastily  made  a  "johnny-cake  " 
of  the  Indian-meal,  and  baked  it  by  the 
fire,  while  she  broiled  the  fish  for  their 
breakfast.  Together  they  asked  God's 
blessing  on  that  God-given  meal,  and 
thenceforward  they  served  and  trusted  God 
more  fully  and  joyously  than  ever. 

The  village  neighbors,  when  they  learned 
of  God's  care  of  one  whom  they  had  unin- 
tentionally neglected,  resolved  henceforth 
to  minister  more  faithfully  to  her  whom 
God  had  privileged  to  represent  him  in 
their  community.  When  I  heard  that  story 
from  my  dear  mother,  it  didn't  seem  any 
more  strange,  or  any  less  true,  than  the 
Bible  stories.  Indeed,  it  didn't  seem  so 
very  strange  anyway.  It  seemed  just  like 
God.  And  I  think  so  still.  I've  never  had 
reason  to  think  differently. 


10 


Ill 

Sletabing  tbat  Strengtbeneb 
m^  ffaitb 

When,  in  my  young  manhood,  I  came 
openly  and  actively  into  God's  special 
service,  the  faith  side  of  my  nature  was 
stronger  than  the  love  side.  Had  I  been 
always  as  ready  and  w^illing  to  enter  on 
and  continue  in  the  path  of  duty  as  I  was 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  God  called  me  to 
do  this,  and  that  he  was  ready  to  sustain 
me  in  it,  I  should  have  been  a  better  child 
of  God  in  all  these  years.  What  I  now 
testify  to,  therefore,  is  that  God  was  ever 
ready  to  give  me  guidance  and  help  in 
answer  to  prayer,  not  that  I  was  always 
willing  to  be  guided  of  God,  and  to  serve 
him  faithfully. 

My  first  special  work  in  God's  service, 
when  I  had  newly  consecrated  myself  to 
him,   in    the   spring  of  1852,  was  as  the 


miustratlvc  Bnswcrs  to  ptascr 

superintendent  of  the  Morgan  Street  Mis- 
sion School  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  just 
then  started  among  the  poor  and  the 
vicious,  in  an  old  rickety  building  near  the 
river  side.  I  had  been  called  to  that  work 
by  a  summons  as  unexpected  and  as  posi- 
tive as  that  which  Elijah  gave  to  Elisha 
when  he  took  him  from  his  plow;  and  I 
had  no  more  reason  than  had  Elisha  to 
doubt  that  it  was  God's  wish  for  the  called 
layman  to  enter  his  special  service  just 
then  and  there. 

My  very  first  address  to  the  little  band 
of  workers,  in  that  garret-room  mission 
school,  was  based  on  the  words  of  Jesus,  as 
recorded  in  Mark  1 1  :  22-25  •  "  Have  faith 
in  God.  .  .  .  Therefore  I  say  unto  you. 
What  things  soever  ye  desire,  when  ye 
pray,  believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and  ye 
shall  have  them."  This  was  before  I  had 
been  chosen  to  the  superintendency  of  the 
school,  and,  as  I  afterwards  learned,  it  was 
one  of  the  reasons  that  led  to  my  call  to 

that  position.     At  all  events,  I  early  found 
12 


Slctabin^  tbat  Strenytbcned  ni^  Jfaitb 

myself  recognized  by  the  teachers  as  a  firm 
believer  in  God's  readiness  to  hear  and 
answer  faith-filled  prayer,  now  as  of  old. 
This  laid  upon  me  a  special  responsibility 
for  practicing  as  I  preached  among  that 
band  of  young  workers  for  Christ.  And 
an  unsought  and  unexpected  occasion 
arose  for  putting  my  belief  to  a  test  before 
them. 

Early  in  the  history  of  our  school  one  of 
our  larger  boys  was  sent  to  the  state 
prison  for  setting  fire  to  an  old  building  in 
the  neighborhood  in  order  to  bring  out  the 
volunteer  fire  department  with  which  he 
was  connected.  As  others  of  our  larger 
boys  might  be  counted  as,  in  a  sense,  can- 
didates for  the  state  prison,  we  were 
desirous  of  making  use  of  this  unfortunate 
occurrence  as  a  warning  to  our  charge. 
When,  later,  a  Christmas  celebration  was 
talked  of,  we  had  this  matter  to  consider 
in  connection  with  our  movements. 

As  a  band  of  teachers  we  came  together 
and  prayed  earnestly  for  special  guidance 
13 


miustratlve  Bnsweta  to  Ipra^er 

in  our  plans.  We  asked  God  particularly 
to  show  us  what  we  should  do  on  the 
coming  Christmas  to  enable  us  to  impress 
our  pupils  for  good  while  they  were  in  our 
charge.  Then,  after  consultation,  we  de- 
cided to  arrange  a  sleigh-ride  for  all  hands, 
on  Christmas  morning,  to  Wethersfield,  a 
few  miles  below  Hartford.  After  passing 
through  the  several  prison  departments 
there,  we  would  have  a  meeting  in  the 
prison  chapel,  with  fitting  addresses  and 
warnings.  Returning  to  Hartford  at  noon, 
we  would  give  the  pupils  a  dinner  in  the 
old  City  Hall,  which  we  had  obtained  con- 
sent to  use  for  the  day.  This  plan  met 
with  the  approval  of  all,  and  we  proceeded 
with  our  necessary  arrangements. 

We  had  several  meetings  to  complete 
the  details,  and  at  each  of  these  we  re- 
newedly  prayed  for  guidance.  One  even- 
ing a  teacher  abruptly  suggested  that 
possibly  there  would  be  no  snow  on 
Christmas,  and,  if  so,  all  our  plans  would 
come  to  nought.  Inexperienced  as  we 
14 


Slciflbftig  tbat  StrengtbencD  m^  JFaftb 

were  in  such  matters,  this  possibility  had 
not  been  considered  by  us.  Quite  a  num- 
ber of  the  teachers  were  startled. 

In  this  emergency  I  ventured  to  say, 
without  a  thought  of  presumption,  that,  as 
we  were  in  God's  special  service,  and  had 
been  asking  his  guidance  in  our  plans,  we 
might  confidently  trust  God  for  his  part  in 
the  program  for  Christmas  Day,  and,  as 
the  weather  was  at  his  control,  we  need  not 
doubt  him  concerning  it. 

"  Oh,  well!"  spoke  out  one  of  the 
teachers ;  "  if  Mr.  Trumbull  will  'agree  to 
furnish  the  snow  for  sleighing,  we  can 
safely  go  ahead  with  our  arrangements." 

"  Mr.  Trumbull  doesn't  propose  to  fur- 
nish the  snow  for  sleighing  on  Christmas," 
I  answered  promptly.  "  He  only  suggests 
that,  as  we  have  been  led  of  God  to  make 
plans  in  God's  service,  where  snow  for 
sleighing  is  a  necessity,  it  seems  to  be  a 
distrust  of  God  to  suggest  that,  while  we  do 
our  part  as  God  directs,  he  may  not  do  his 
part." 

15 


miustrattpe  Bnewers  to  praiger 

At  this  we  went  on  with  our  arrange- 
ments. It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  this 
narration  that  I  am  by  no  means  defending 
my  course  in  this  matter  as  a  wise  or  a 
proper  one,  but  that  I  am  simply  recording 
God's  loving  dealings  with  me  in  his  ser- 
vice when  I  emphasized,  however  unwisely, 
the  importance  of  trusting  God  to  give  an 
answer  to  our  faith-filled  prayers  in  his 
service. 

When  I  went  home  from  the  meeting  of 
teachers  that  evening,  I  realized  the  respon- 
sibility of  my  position  in  this  emergency. 
Accordingly  I  went  on  my  knees  before 
God  to  call  for  guidance  and  help.  I  told 
God  that  if  I  had  unintentionally  erred  in 
what  I  had  said  about  the  sleighing,  I  now 
prayed  that  the  tender  faith  of  those  young 
teachers,  whom  I  was  set  to  lead  in  his 
service,  might  not  be  harmed  through  any 
error  or  presumption  of  mine.  And  from 
the  evening  I  prayed,  day  by  day,  that  we 
might  be  helped,  through  his  leading,  to  a 

firmer  faith  in  him. 

i6 


SletQblns  tbat  StrenotbeneO  m^  3faitb 

.  As  Christmas  drew  near  there  were  still 
no  signs  of  snow.  Yet  we  went  on  with 
our  arrangements,  as  if  we  were  sure  of 
good  sleighing.  Repeatedly  I  checked 
attempts  at  discussion  over  the  prospects 
of  the  weather  as  a  matter  outside  of  our 
control.  On  Christmas  Eve  we  met  for  the 
last  preliminary  conference,  and  then  we 
separated  for  the  night  with  an  agreement 
to  meet  at  the  school-room  the  next  morn- 
ing. At  my  home,  as  I  looked  out  of  my 
window  before  retiring,  I  saw  a  clear 
star-lit  sky,  but  I  knew  that  my  Father  was 
back  of  the  sky  and  stars,  and,  committing 
the  whole  case  to  him  trustfully,  I  lay 
down  and  slept. 

Christmas  morning  I  rose  to  find  some 
four  inches  of  snow  on  the  ground, — a 
good  basis  for  excellent'  sleighing.  The 
sun  was  shining.  I  thanked  God  heartily, 
and  prepared  for  the  day.  Everything 
passed  off  as  we  had  hoped.  We  had  our 
sleigh-ride  to  Wethersfield  and  our  im- 
pressive service  in  the  state-prison  chapel. 
17 


HUustrattve  Bnswers  to  praisct 

We  came  back  in  the  middle  of  the  day  to 
have  our  dinner  for  the  pupils  in  the  old 
City  Hall.  When  we  entered  that  hall  the 
snow  was  already  melting  on  the  ground. 
When  we  came  out  from  that  hall,  after 
several  hours  there,  the  snow  had  prac- 
tically disappeared ;  and,  when  the  night 
shut  in,  the  ground  was  again  bare. 

Those  teachers  felt  that  God  had  sent 
that  snow  to  enable  us  to  use  it  for  his 
service  as  we  had  planned  and  prayed 
under  his  guidance.  I  have  never  had  any 
doubt  on  that  point. 

More  than  forty  years  after  that  day  one 

of  the  most  prominent  of  those  teachers, 

who  had  ever  since  been  active  in  God's 

sei-vice,  recalled    gratefully  that   God-sent 

Christmas  snowstorm,  as  we  were  together 

in  the  Adirondacks.  and  she  spoke  earnestly 

of  the  aid  it  had  been  to  her  faith  at  the 

time  and  thenceforward  until  now.     I  have 

never  ceased  to  thank  my  loving  Father 

for  the  aid  he  thus  gave  to  the  faith   of 

those  teachers,  and  to  my  faith. 
i8 


IV 

Iknowing  Gob's  IDoice  wben  be  Speafts 

If  prayer  includes  as  one  of  its  privileges 
coimniinion  with  God,  it  follows  that  God 
has  a  part  in  this  communion,  as  well  as 
man.  If  a  child  of  God  confidently  asks 
guidance  from  his  Father,  the  Father  may 
be  expected  to  respond  to  the  child  with 
the  special  guidance  sought.  This  seems 
a  reasonable  expectation  on  the  child's 
part,  and  an  expectation  that  seems  justi- 
fied by  God's  explicit  teaching  to  his  chil- 
dren, in  both  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New.  In  all  the  ages  God's  most  trustful 
children  have  felt  that  they  could  expect 
explicit  direction  in  response  to  prayer, 
and  multitudes  of  them  have  been  ready  to 
bear  witness  that  they  have  not  been  dis- 
appointed. 

God  promised  his  people  by  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  as  they  had  need  and  sought  his 
19 


miusttatlve  Bnswers  to  IPragei: 

help,  **  Thine  ears  shall  hear  a  word  behind 
thee,  saying,  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it ; 
when  ye  turn  to  the  right  hand,  and  when 
ye  turn  to  the  left"  (Isa.  30  :  21.)  Again 
God  promised  by  his  apostle  James,  "  If 
any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of 
God,  who  giveth  to  all  hberally  and  up- 
braideth  not;  and  it  shall  be  given  him. 
But  let  him  ask  in  faith,  nothing  doubting : 
for  he  that  doubteth  is  like  the  surge  of 
the  sea  driven  by  the  wind  and  tossed" 
(James  1:5,6). 

These  promises  I,  like  many  another, 
early  recognized  as  assured  of  God,  and  I 
was  encouraged  by  them.  Yet  I  knew 
that  many  had  permitted  themselves  to  be 
misled  through  not  interpreting  these 
promises  aright,  and  I  had  to  admit  that 
one  might  fall  into  grievous  error  and 
unjustifiable  excesses  through  fanaticism  or 
folly,  even  while  he  supposed  he  was  fol- 
lowing; God's  literal  counsel.  I  even  saw 
that  I  was  sometimes  inclined  to  follow  an 

impulse  or  an  unreasonable  impression  as 
20 


•fi^nowiuQ  0oO's  Dolce  wben  be  Speafts 

to  my  personal  duty,  when  I  really  desired 
to  act  as  God  directed.  Therefore  I  ques- 
tioned in  my  mind  whether  I  was  being 
misled  by  an  uncertain  sound  in  my  spir- 
itual ears,  and,  if  so,  how  this  could  be 
avoided. 

While  I  was  speaking  of  this  subject, 
one  day,  with  a  friend  known  and  prized 
from  my  boyhood,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  M. 
Parsons,  then  of  Springfield,  later  of  Bos- 
ton and  of  Buffalo  and  of  Toronto,  he 
said  to  me  suggestively :  "  Henry,  it's  a 
great  thing  to  know  the  Lord's  voice 
when  he  speaks  to  us,  and  not  to  mis- 
take anything  else  for  it."  That  utter- 
ance started  me  on  a  new  train  of  thought, 
and  I  began  to  consider  the  Hmitations 
within  which  alone  I  might  properly  expect 
to  hear  God's  voice  directing  me.  These 
recognized  limits  have  helped  me  ever 
since  to  exclude  what  might  otherwise 
have  been  a  cause  of  my  frequent  mis- 
leading. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  no  right  to 

21 


miustrative  answers  to  ipra^ser 

seek  special  guidance  from  God  when  our 
plain  duty  for  the  hour  is  already  pointed 
out  in  the  teachings  of  his  Word,  or  in  the 
circumstances  of  our  position  or  relations. 
We  need  not  ask  God  whether  we  shall 
love  our  parents  or  our  children,  or  be 
good  citizens,  or  give  help  to  those  who 
need  it,  and  who  apply  to  us  for  what  we 
have  to  give.  Nor  need  we  ask  God  to  tell 
us  whether  we  are  to  work  or  to  sleep  or 
to  eat  or  to  take  exercise  at  proper  hours. 
If  escaping  gas  fouls  the  atmosphere  of  a 
close  room,  we  ought  to  know  that  open- 
ing a  window  to  the  fresh  air  is  our  duty, 
without  waiting  for  any  new  revelation  from 
God.  Only  within  reasonable  limits,  and 
then  where  we  are  otherwise  unable  to 
know  just  in  what  way  we  are  to  act,  is  it 
proper  for  us  to  ask  God's  added  and 
special  help  and  guidance  in  our  sphere. 
In  the  next  place,  it  is  evident  that  God 
will  never  contradict  himself  Having  laid 
down  in  his  Word  well-defined  principles 
for  our  guidance,  God  will  never  call  on  us 

22 


'(knowing  (3oD'6  Voice  wben  be  Speaftg; 

to  act  otherwise  than  in  accordance  with 
those  principles.  "  God  is  not  a  God  of 
confusion,"  but  of  order  and  of  peace. 
Where  our  duty  is  already  clear,  we  may 
be  sure  that  nothing  is  from  God  that 
would  tempt  us  to  do  differently.  This 
shuts  out  all  wrong-doing  as  possibly 
directed  of  God. 

Then,  again,  no  call  can  be  from  God 
when  it  would  seemingly  summon  us  to  a 
new  duty  while  we  are  already  in  the  dis- 
charge of  a  particular  duty  in  God's  provi- 
dence with  which  the  new  task  would 
conflict.  Thus,  for  example,  if  we  had  left 
our  home  to  summon  the  doctor  for  a  sick 
member  of  our  family,  we  might  know  that 
God  would  not  call  us  on  the  way  to  turn* 
aside  and  visit  a  needy  neighbor  in  order 
to  give  sympathy  or  help.  God  is  never  in 
such  extremity  that  he  has  to  call  one 
child  of  his  to  two  conflicting  duties, — if, 
indeed,  duties  ever  do  conflict. 

The  limitations  indicated  by  such  guard- 
ing principles  as  these  practically  shut  out 
23 


15Uu6trati\>e  Bnswers  to  prater 

most  of  the  difficulties  which  might  lead 
one  amiss  in  supposing  that  a  guiding 
voice  came  from  God  in  answer  to  special 
prayer.  In  all  the  years  that  followed  this 
decision  I  have  had  little  hesitation  in 
accepting  God's  voice  as  God's  voice,  while 
I  have  had  frequent  occasion  to  hear  and 
to  heed  that  voice  in  little  matters  and  in 
greater.  I  give  a  few  illustrations  out  of 
many  that  I  might  give  as  showing  how 
good  it  is  to  know  God's  voice  and  to  con- 
form to  its  teachings. 

I  was  at  work  at  my  library  table  in 
Hartford  one  evening.  I  had  just  finished 
a  piece  of  work  for  a  Sunday-school  maga- 
zine in  Chicago.  I  had  definitely  promised 
the  article,  and  it  must  be  mailed  that 
evening  in  order  to  be  on  time.  I  was, 
moreover,  to  leave  home  on  the  midnight 
train  for  Boston  in  order  to  fill  an  impor- 
tant religious  appointment  on  the  next  day. 
As  I  was  folding  my  finished  Chicago 
manuscript  I  was  startled  by  hearing  a  cry 

of  pain  from  my  wife  in  the  room  above 
24 


•Knowing  GoO's  Doice  wben  be  Speaks 

me.  Starting  from  my  seat,  I  bounded 
upstairs  to  my  wife's  assistance.  She  had 
burned  her  hand  sh'ghtly  with  a  spirit- 
lamp.  Having  assisted  her  in  its  treat- 
ment, I  returned  to  my  Hbrary;  but  my 
finished  manuscript  was  not  to  be  found. 

After  searching  the  table  and  the  floor 
for  it,  I  went  upstairs  again  to  see  if  by 
any  possibility  I  had  taken  it  with  me,  or 
dropped  it  on  the  way.  Then  I  searched 
my  eight  or  ten  pockets,  thinking  that  I 
might  have  slipped  it  into  one  of  these  as  I 
sprang  at  the  cry  of  pain.  But  still  it  was 
not  to  be  found.  The  time  approached  for 
my  start  for  Boston.  The  manuscript  for 
Chicago  must  be  mailed  before  I  left.  I 
was  in  extremity,  and  I  realized  it.  So  I 
dropped  on  my  knees  at  my  study  table, 
and  called  on  God  for  help. 

I  am  accustomed  at  such  a  time  to  state 
fully  the  case  to  my  God,  as  if  to  convince 
myself  that  I  am  not  shirking  any  duty, 
but  am  doing  as  I  am  entitled  to  do  in 
his  service.     I  told  God  that  all  this  had 


miustrativc  answers  to  ipra^er 

occurred  while  I  was  at  work  as  his  child. 
The  manuscript  was  for  him ;  so  was  my 
jumping  to  my  wife's  relief,  so  also  was  my 
purposed  trip  to  Boston.  Moreover,  I  had 
exhausted  my  efforts  to  recover  the  paper, 
which  must  be  found  at  once.  He  could 
help  me.  What  should  I  do?  At  once 
there  came  the  familiar  voice  to  me,  or  the 
mental  impression  as  if  a  voice  had  said : 

**  Stand  up,  and  throw  off  your  coat  and 
vest." 

No  explanation  was  added.  I  asked  for 
none,  but  instantly  I  did  as  I  was  directed. 
As  my  vest  was  turned  back  I  discovered 
the  missing  manuscript  in  a  pocket  in  the 
inner  lining  of  that  vest,  which  I  had  not 
before  known  was  there.  Without  stop- 
ping even  to  wonder  over  the  incident  I 
dropped  again  on  my  knees,  and  gave  God 
thanks  for  his  goodness ;  then  I  hurried  on 
my  way  to  Boston,  mailing  the  paper  as  I 
went. 

A  little  subsequent   thought  made  the 

probable   course   of    events    clear    to    my 
26 


IRncwing  (BoD's  Dolce  wben  be  Speafts 

mind,  yet  without  lessening  the  impor- 
tance of  God's  special  ministry  in  it  all. 
My  coat  had  been  buttoned  over  my  vest 
as  I  rose  from  my  chair  at  the  call  for  help 
in  the  upper  room.  I  had  instinctively 
attempted  to  put  the  paper  into  the  right 
breast-pocket  of  my  coat.  Unintentionally, 
I  had  slipped  it  inside  the  vest  as  well  as 
the  coat,  and  it  had  entered  the  pocket  of 
which  I  was  not  aware.  Up  to  that  time 
I  had  never  known  of  such  a  pocket, 
although  I  afterwards  found  that  such 
pockets  were  common. 

While  this  was  all  within  the  realm  of 
the  natural,  I  was  none  the  less  helpless  to 
find  the  missing  paper  within  the  time 
allowed  me;  and  I  needed  God's  super- 
natural oversight  of  the  natural  in  order  to 
enable  me  to  do  my  duty  for  him  in  my 
little  sphere.  And  he  came  to  my  relief 
with  his  guiding  voice,  as  he  is  ever  ready 
to  do  for  his  children,  according  to  their 
need  and  their  faith. 

At  another  time,  I  was  one  day  making 
27 


Illustrative  answers  to  pra^ger 

arrangements  to  leave  my  Hartford  home, 
in  the  evening,  for  a  long  trip  to  the  North 
and  West,  in  the  line  of  my  Sunday-school 
evangelistic  work.  I  called  at  the  bank, 
and  drew  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  for  my 
expenses  while  absent  I  attended  to  vari- 
ous other  matters  at  different  places.  Near 
the  close  of  the  day,  at  my  home,  I  desired 
to  use  a  portion  of  the  money  I  had 
drawn,  but,  to  my  surprise,  I  could  not 
find  it.  In  vain  I  tried  to  recall  where  I 
had  put  it.  I  remembered  taking  it  from 
the  teller,  at  his  window,  but  all  after  that 
was  a  blank  in  my  mind  with  reference  to 
it.  I  had  been  at  various  points  in  the 
city,  and  I  had  been  in  different  parts  of 
my  house;  but  I  knew  of  no  one  place 
more  than  another  where  I  might  hope  to 
find  the  missing  money. 

In  my  extremity  I  asked,  on  my  knees, 
for  God's  help.  I  told  him  that  this  money 
was  his,  and  that  I  had  not  intentionally 
been  careless  with  reference  to  it.     I  could 

not  find  it,  nor  did  I  know  where  to  look. 
28 


tknowinQ  (3oD'0  Doicc  wben  be  Speaks 

Would  he  direct  me  ?  At  once  the  word 
came: 

"  Go  down  the  kitchen  stairs,  and  look 
on  the  cellar  floor." 

Rising^,  and  doing  as  directed,  I  found 
the  roll  of  bank-notes  on  the  cellar  floor, 
near  the  foot  of  the  stairs.  I  thanked  God 
for  his  goodness,  and  determined  to  be 
more  careful  the  next  time  in  putting  any 
money  I  drew  from  the  bank  in  a  safe 
place  at  the  start. 

How  the  roll  of  notes  came  to  be  where 
I  found  it,  I  do  not  know,  nor  was  it  for 
me  to  explain ;  it  may  be  that  I  put  the 
money  loosely  in  my  vest-pocket  when  I 
received  it  from  the  teller,  and  that  it  re- 
mained there  until  it  slipped  out,  as  I  went 
down  the  kitchen  stairs  in  my  going  about 
the  house.  All  was,  I  suppose,  in  the  line 
of  natural  laws  supernaturally  controlled 
for  the  good  of  a  trustful  child  of  God. 
This  again  is  but  one  instance  out  of  many 
of  God's  loving  dealings  with  me,  for  which 

I  am  profoundly  grateful. 
29 


miustrattve  Bngwers  to  ipta^et 

Nor  is  it  in  matters  of  material  things 
only  that  we  can  have  God's  guiding  voice 
in  our  need.  In  things  spiritual,  also,  we 
are  privileged  to  commune  with  God  and 
be  helped.  God  is  as  ready  to  give  com- 
fort or  salvation  to  a  trusting  soul  as  he  is 
to  give  help  and  direction  to  one  who  looks 
for  lost  treasure.  And  with  God  there  is 
no  such  measure  as  with  man  as  to  things 
great  or  small,  easy  or  difficult.  Of  this 
also  I  have  had  rich  experience,  and  to 
this  I  bear  glad  testimony. 

For  example,  at  one  time  I  found  myself 
disturbed  and  worried  over  a  strange  temp- 
tation in  my  thoughts.  It  hindered  me  in 
my  reading,  in  my  writing,  and  in  my 
thinking.  I  could  not  shut  it  out  from  my 
mind,  try  I  never  so  earnestly.  Yet  I 
could  not  see  how  I  was  directly  respon- 
sible for  its  constant  presence  with  me.  I 
wanted  to  get  away  from  it,  or  to  get  it 
away  from  me. 

In  my  dilemma,  after  several   days    of 

struggling,  I  called  on  God  for  special  help, 
30 


IknowlnQ  OoD's  Voice  wben  be  Speahs 

or  I  communed  with  him  in  my  perplexity. 
I  asked  God  why  I  should  have  this  spe- 
cial trouble,  when  I  wanted  my  mind  free 
for  his  assigned  work  in  my  sphere.  T 
asked  if  he  would  not  interpose  and  give 
me  relief  Could  he  not  take  that  tempta- 
tion away  ?  At  once  there  came  this  un- 
expected response : 

"  Of  course,  I  can  instantly  relieve  you 
from  this  struggle.  But  which  would  you 
prefer, — to  keep  on  with  this  fight  for  vic- 
tory over  the  temptation  in  the  strength 
that  I  will  give  you,  and  be  the  gainer  in 
true  manhood  through  the  struggle,  or  to 
be  wholly  relieved  at  once  from  the  con- 
flict, and  be  so  much  less  of  a  man  in 
consequence  ?  " 

When  that  was  the  issue  before  me,  I 
called  out  to  God  earnestly :  "  Let  me  be 
no  less  of  a  man  than  I  am.  If  that  be  the 
choice,  let  this  fight  go  on,  and  I  be  the 
gainer,  in  thy  strength,  through  it  all." 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  from  that  moment  I 
had  no  more  trouble  with  that  temptation. 
31 


miustrattve  Answers  to  ipcaiger 

Perhaps  it  was  because  I  had  now  learned 
the  lesson  God  would  teach  me  by  it,  and 
other  lessons  were  to  be  taught  me  in  other 
ways.  How  good  God  is,  and  how  tender 
and  considerate  with  his  children  in  their 
weakness  and  their  needs,  as  they  come  to 
him  in  communing  prayer ! 


S9 


Cbtl^ren  6mDeb  on  a  Scotcb  VXloox 

Although  in  these  narrations  I  naturally 
emphasize  my  personal  experience  of  God's 
loving  guidance  in  answer  to  prayer,  this 
is  not  because  I  feel  that  I  have  had  such 
guidance  above  others  of  my  acquaintance. 
Indeed,  as  illustrated  by  my  mother's 
neighbor,  the  needy  widow  of  whom  I  tell, 
for  whom  God  made  such  remarkable  pro- 
vision in  her  extremity,  God's  ministry  to 
others  of  his  children  whom  I  have  person- 
ally known,  or  have  known  of,  has,  along 
my  life  course,  strengthened  my  faith  in 
him  as  ready  to  do  for  me  according  to  my 
need  and  faith.  And  as  their  testimony 
has  tended  to  give  me  cheer,  I  gladly  give 
my  testimony,  in  the  hope  that  it  will  give 
others  cheer.  If  all  who  have  been  thus 
providentially  ministered  to  should  bear 
33 


miustratlvc  Bnswera  to  prater 

their  testimony,  the  world  would  ring  anew 
with  the  praises  of  God's  goodness. 

On  one  occasion  this  subject  of  explicit 
answers  to  specific  piayer  came  up  for  con- 
sideration in  the  Hartford  Ministers'  Meet- 
mg,  at  its  weekly  session,  on  Monday 
morning,  when  I  was  present.  There  were 
great  and  grand  and  good  men  in  that 
gathering.  I  wish  that  the  personal  testi- 
monies given  that  morning  could  have 
been  preserved  for  the  comfort  of  the 
saints.  Prominent  among  these  testimo- 
nies I  recall  particularly  the  impressive 
words  of  Professor  Calvin  E.  Stowe,  Dr. 
Horace  Bushnell,  Dr.  Robert  Turnbull,  and 
Dr.  Nathaniel  J.  Burton,  all  long  since 
passed  to  their  reward.  The  incident 
related  out  of  his  boyhood  experience  by 
Dr.  Turnbull  I  repeat  as  more  directly  in 
the  line  of  my  present  thought,  that  God  is 
ready  to  give  sought-for  guidance,  by  his 
directing  voice  or  otherwise,  according  to 
his  trusting  child's  need. 

Dr.  Robert  Turnbull,  the  distinguished 
34 


Cbll&icn  GutDeD  on  a  Gcotcb  tSloov 

author  and  preacher,  of  Pliiiadelphia,  Bos- 
ton, and  Hartford,  did  not  remove  to 
America  until  he  was  nearly  twenty-five 
years  old.  It  was  while  he  was  still  a 
little  boy  in  his  Scottish  home  that  the 
incident  occurred  of  which  he  told  us  that 
memorable  Monday  morning. 

On  a  wintry  day  Robert  and  his  little 
sister  strayed  out  from  their  home  for  a 
walk  on  the  moor.  As  it  drew  toward 
dark,  on  the  short  winter's  day,  a  driving 
snowstorm  came  on.  Soon  the  children 
were  blinded  and  dazed  by  the  chilly 
storm.  With  no  well-defined  road  over 
the  moor,  and  with  all  landmarks  shut  out 
from  sight  by  the  falling  snow,  the  children 
were  soon  bewildered.  As  they  looked 
about  them,  and  turned  from  side  to  side 
in  search  of  the  way,  they  quickly  lost  all 
knowledge  of  the  points  of  compass,  and 
were  helpless  as  to  the  direction  they 
should  take.  They  realized  that  they  had 
lost  their  way,  and  they  dared  not  move  in 
any  direction.  Yet  these  were  children 
35 


miustrattvc  Bnswera  to  Ipraisec 

who  had  been  taught  that  their  Father  in 
heaven  could  help  them. 

"Robbie,  let  us  pray,"  said  the  sister; 
and  they  dropped  together  on  their  knees 
on  the  snowy  moor,  as  if  in  their  home 
bedroom. 

"We  only  knew  'the  Lord's  Prayer,'" 
said  Dr.  Turnbull,  as  he  told  the  story ; 
"  and  \ve  said  that  prayer  together.  But 
God  knew  that  we  really  meant,  *  Please 
show  us  the  way  home ; '  and  he  answered 
us  accordingly. 

"  As  we  rose  from  our  knees  and  peered 
about  through  the  driving  snow,  my  sister, 
keener-eyed  in  her  faith,  called  out  glee- 
fully :  '  There's  Old  Maggie,  Robbie.  She'll 
show  us  the  way.'  And  we  sprang  for- 
ward toward  her,  calling  out  as  we  pressed 
on,  '  Maggie,  Maggie.'  " 

"Old  Maggie,"  said  the  narrator,  " was 
a  humble  neighbor,  and  in  a  sense  a 
dependent  of  ours,  who  was  often  at  our 
house  to  perform  service  or  to  receive  sup- 
plies. There  she  was  just  before  us  now  in 
36 


CbUDren  (BuiDeD  on  a  Scotcb  fnioot 

the  driving  snow,  breasting  the  storm,  with 
her  plaid  about  her.  As  we  called  to  her 
she  did  not  look  back,  but  pressed  on, 
while  we  with  our  tired  little  feet  followed 
after  as  best  we  could,  glad  of  her  safe 
lead.  But  suddenly  Old  Maggie  disap- 
peared. Bewildered  again,  we  stopped  and 
looked  about  us  in  the  snow.  To  our 
wonder  and  delight,  there  just  before  us 
was  our  dear  home  which  we  were  seek- 
ing. Maggie  was  gone.  Her  mission  for 
now  was  performed.  God  had  used  her 
lead  to  answer  our  prayer  that  he  would 
show  us  the  way  home." 

As  we  looked  into  the  Christ-lighted 
face  of  good  Dr.  TurnbuU  when  he  bore 
this  testimony,  we  all  felt  that  it  was  no 
mere  fancy  of  the  brain  that  had  misled 
him.  It  was  but  an  added  evidence  of 
God's  goodness  to  his  trustful  children  in 
their  need,  and  we  were  glad  that  we  also 
had  such  a  loving  Father.  The  impression 
of  that  recital  has  been  with  me  ever  since 
in  all  these  years.  And  now,  as  the  close 
37 


miusttative  Bnswets  to  ipra^et 

of  life's  wintry  day  comes  on,  and  the 
snows  of  age  dim  my  eyes,  I  am  glad  of 
my  confidence  that  my  Father  will  not 
leave  his  child  without  a  guide  until  I  am 
finally  in  the  place  which  he  has  prepared 
for  me  and  for  mine. 


3S 


VI 

(Bob  'BccibiixQ  m^  {place  in 
Mar  trtme 

From  the  time  when  I  first  consciously 
gave  myself  to  God's  service,  in  my  young 
manhood,  I  have  never  had  reason  to 
doubt,  at  any  given  time,  that  God  wanted 
me  to  serve  him  in  the  place  where  I  then 
was.  Or,  if  he  wanted  me  to  enter  a  new 
field  of  service,  he  made  that  as  plain  to 
me  as  if  he  had  spoken  out  of  the  heavens 
in  thunder  tones  telling  me  where  to  go 
next  This  has,  of  course,  been  a  comfort 
to  me  in  my  life  work,  for  which  I  am  pro- 
foundly grateful.  Such  rest  of  faith  as  to 
one's  sphere  of  service  is,  I  believe,  open  to 
every  child  of  God  who  seeks  it  in  a  sense 
of  dependence  and  of  confident  trust. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  claim  or  to  suggest 
that  I  have  always  felt  that  I  was  doing 
just  right,  or  that  I  was  uniformly  even 
39 


miustrative  Bnsvvers  to  ipra^er 

trying  to  do  so.  Many,  very  many,  times 
I  have  failed,  and  known  that  I  was  faiHng, 
to  do  the  best  I  could.  I  have  not  always 
even  tried  to  do  my  best.  This  I  have  to 
confess ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  not 
had  occasion,  at  such  times,  to  doubt  as  to 
what  and  where  was  my  sphere  of  duty  in 
which  I  ought  to  be  doing  my  best,  or 
trying  to  do  so. 

The  most  desirable  spot  in  the  universe 
for  a  child  of  God  is  ever  the  spot  where 
God  wants  that  child  to  be.  That  point 
made  clear  to  the  child,  he  ought  to  feel 
that  he  would  not  gain,  either  in  honor  or 
in  profit,  by  a  change  from  where  he  is  to 
another  spot,  whether  it  be  to  tend  a  cab- 
bage field,  to  open  up  a  diamond  mine,  or 
to  evangelize  a  continent.  God  knows  best 
what  he  wants,  and  what  zve  ought  to  want. 
As  to  this,  let  us  never  have  any  doubt. 

Hardly  had  I  taken  the  step  of  formally 
entering  God's  service,  when  an  unmis- 
takable call  from   God,  as  I  have  already 

narrated,  summoned  me  to  superintend  a 
40 


(5o&  5)eciOin0  ms  place  in  iKIlat  Zimc 

city-mission  school.  From  that  time  to 
the  present  every  successive  change  of 
field  for  me  has  been  as  distinctly  pointed 
out  of  God  as  was  that  first  sphere  of  ser- 
vice. The  indications  of  my  duty  and 
God's  wish  at  the  turning-point  have  been 
sometimes  as  remarkable  as  they  were 
explicit.  Some  of  these  are  worthy  of 
recall  in  this  recital  of  illustrative  experi- 
ences of  God's  special  guidance. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Civil  War  by  the 
firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  in  April,  i86i,  I  was 
in  active  work  in  the  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionary field  in  New  England,  to  which  I 
had  been  clearly  called  of  God.  The  new 
emergency,  in  the  summons  to  defend  the 
government  in  its  peril,  seemed  to  me,  as 
to  most  of  the  loyal  able-bodied  citizens  of 
the  North,  to  be  a  providential  call  to 
enlist  in  the  army.  But,  unfortunately,  I 
was  not  supposed  to  be  an  able-bodied 
citizen.  I  was  in  frail  health,  worn  down 
by  nervous  effort  in  much  traveling  and 
speaking. 

41 


Illustrative  Bnswera  to  l^ra^et 

When  Governor  Buckingham  offered  me 
the  position  of  major  in  one  of  the  earlier 
three  years'  regiments,  and  I  referred  the 
question  of  my  physical  fitness  for  the  place 
to  my  physician,  the  latter  assured  me  that 
my  accepting  it  was  quite  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. He  said  I  could  not  Hve  six  weeks 
in  army  service.  A  younger  and  stalwart 
brother  of  mine,  who  had  already  enlisted, 
said  that  I  could  not  live  a  single  week  in 
active  service.  He  added  that  my  accept- 
ing the  position  would  only  tend  to  keep 
out  of  it  a  man  who  could  fill  it.  Thus  I 
seemed  shut  out  from  army  service  by  my 
physical  incapacity. 

In  view  of  my  prominence  as  a  Sunday- 
school  worker  and  lay  preacher,  the  officers 
of  the  Tenth  Connecticut  Regiment,  when 
it  was  making  ready  for  the  field,  proposed 
to  me  to  go  as  their  chaplain ;  but,  on 
taking-  counsel,  I  felt  that  that  also  was 
beyond  my  strength.  In  view  of  all  the 
difficulties,  therefore,  I  had  to  content  my- 
self with  urging  others  to  enlist,  as  I  could 
42 


(3oD  DeciOtng  ms  IPlace  in  Mar  ^ime 

not,  and  to  this  work  I  devoted  myself  en- 
thusiastically. Of  course,  I  was  available 
in  tills  line,  at  such  a  time,  as  an  able-bodied 
speaker  would  not  be.  If  any  one  whom  I 
urged  to  enlist  asked  me  why  I  did  not 
myself  volunteer,  I  was  ready  to  reply  that 
I  would  go  at  once  if  the  government 
would  accept  me.  Therefore  my  appeal 
came  with  greater  force  to  others  to  do 
likewise.  In  this  sphere,  as  a  consequence, 
I  had,  for  the  time,  plenty  to  do.  Yet  I 
regretted  all  the  time  that  I  was  unfitted 
for  more  active  service  when  such  pressure 
was  on  all,  and  this  feeling  grew  on  me 
constantly.  I  was  renewedly  asking  myself 
whether  indeed  it  would  not  be  possible  for 
me  to  have  some  other  share  in  the  para- 
mount duty  of  the  loyal  citizen  in  that 
crisis.  This  was  not  in  the  way  of  chafing 
under  God's  ordering,  but  it  was  in  the  way 
of  dutifully  inquiring  just  what  God  would 
have  me  to  do  with  my  limits  as  they  were. 
In  the  summer  of  1862,  after  the  terrible 
fighting  in  the  seven  da}'s'  battles  before 
43 


1lllU6tratlv>e  Bnswcrs  to  lpra\jet 

Richmond,  and  the  new  call  was  made  for 
volunteers  to  replace  losses  in  McClellan's 
army,  the  pressure  on  me  was  greater  than 
before.  One  Saturday  evening  I  returned 
to  my  home  exhausted  after  a  vigorous 
campaign  through  the  towns  of  Hartford 
and  Tolland  counties,  where  I  had  accom- 
panied Colonel  Dwight  Morris,  of  Bridge- 
port, commander  of  the  new  Fourteenth 
Regiment,  appealing  for  volunteers. 

Although  it  was  near  midnight  when  I 
reached  home,  instead  of  retiring  to  my 
room  for  sleep,  I  stopped  in  my  parlor 
below  stairs,  and  sat  before  the  Lord  for  a 
season  of  communing  with  him.  My  own 
earnest  appeals  that  evening  to  others  to 
count  their  country's  imperative  call  for 
help  in  its  life  struggle  to  be  limited  in 
their  case  only  by  their  possibility  of  ser- 
vice, came  back  on  my  mind  at  this  hour 
with  tremendous  force.  I  asked  God 
earnestly  if  there  was  not  something  more 
that  I  could  do  in  view  of  that  summons. 

In  response  the  Lord  seemed  to  ask  me 
44 


(5oD  BeclOing  ms  iplace  (n  Mar  Zimc 

whether  it  did  not  seem  decided  that  I 
lacked  the  physical  ability  to  serve  in 
either  the  field  or  line  in  the  army.  I  said 
it  did,  but  I  had  come  to  question  more 
and  more  whether  I  might  not  do  some- 
thing as  a  chaplain  or  as  a  lay  Chris- 
tian worker  in  camp  or  hospital,  even  if 
I  might  not  in  more  active  service. 

At  this  the  Lord  pointed  me  to  the  re- 
mark made  by  Colonel  Morris  that  very 
evening  as  to  the  surplus  of  applicants  for 
a  chaplain's  commission  at  the  present  time. 
He  had  told  me  that  some  thirty  clergy- 
men had  applied  to  him  for  an  appoint- 
ment as  chaplain.  Therefore  there  was  no 
special  call  on  me  to  proffer  my  service 
in  that  line  just  now.  But,  I  suggested,  an 
unsolicited  call  had  come  to  me  a  year  ago 
from  the  officers  of  the  Tenth  Connecticut 
Regiment  to  be  their  chaplain.  "  Yes,  but 
that  regiment  now  has  a  chaplain.  If  the 
place  proffered  you  a  year  ago  were  again 
before  you,  you  might  indeed  count  its 
acceptance  a  duty,  but  in  the  lack  of  such 
45 


Illustrative  Bnswers  to  lPra)?ec 

a  call  you  must  be  contented  as  you  are." 
And  with  this  conclusion  I  had  to  rest  the 
case  at  issue,  and  retire  for  the  night. 

Sunday,  with  its  duties,  followed  that 
night.  On  Monday  morning  the  first  mail 
delivery  brought  me  a  letter  from  New 
Berne,  North  Carolina.  It  was  from  the 
colonel  of  the  Tenth  Connecticut  Regi- 
ment, saying  that  their  chaplain  had  re- 
signed, and  he  now  again  proffered  the 
position  to  me.  He  spoke  of  the  needs  of 
his  regiment  and  of  the  military  post  where 
it  was  now  stationed,  and  he  suggested 
reasons  why  I  should  accept  the  call.  The 
providence  was  too  marked  to  leave  me  in 
any  doubt  as  to  God's  purpose  for  me. 
From  my  library  chair  I  called  to  my  wife 
in  the  room  above : 

"  Alice,  God  has  called  me  to  the  war." 

"  Then  I  suppose  you'll  go "  was  the 
quiet  response  of  the  brave  and  patriotic 
and  self-denying  little  woman. 

And  this  was  the  way  that  God  pointed 

out  my  place  in  army  service. 
46 


VII 

%c^  'dnmtBtaftabl^  to  tbe  BDitor'0 
Cbair 

When  I  entered  army  service  I  was,  and 
for  four  years  I  had  been,  in  the  service  of 
the  American  Sunday  School  Union  as  the 
Sunday-school  missionary  for  Connecticut. 
During  my  three  years'  absence  in  the 
army  I  was  still  counted  as  a  representa- 
tive of  that  society  among  the  soldiers  at 
the  front.  On  my  return  I  was  appointed 
to  the  oversight  of  its  missionary  work  in 
the  New  England  field.  Later  I  was  ap- 
pointed its  Normal  Secretary,  in  charge  of 
its  teacher-training  work  throughout  the 
entire  country. 

The  work  of  traveling  from  Maine  to 
California,  and  from  Minnesota  to  Florida, 
holding  institutes  and  conventions  and  con- 
ferences, with  an  almost  limitless  amount 
of  public  speaking,  became  severely  tax- 
47 


miustrative  Bnswers  to  iDrager 

ing  to  me.  Naturally  I  began  to  question 
in  my  mind  whether  I  could  continue  work 
of  this  kind  as  the  years  passed  on,  or 
whether  I  could  do  better  work  of  another 
sort  for  a  longer  time  by  my  undertaking 
labors  like  those  of  a  writer  or  an  editor  at 
some  center  of  influence.  But,  as  to  this, 
God  knew  better  than  I  did,  and  I  must 
leave  it  to  him  to  indicate  his  will.  More- 
over, I  was  not  by  any  means  sure  that  I 
had  the  qualifications  for  such  a  place  as 
that  which  I  thought  of.  That  also  I  must 
leave  to  God's  decision  and  guidance. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1875,  just  as  I  was 
leaving;  home  to  conduct  an  extended  Sun- 
day-school  institute  in  Toronto,  Canada,  I 
heard  that  Mr.  John  Wanamaker,  of  Phila- 
delphia, had  purchased  The  Sunday  School 
Times,  and  was  seeking  some  well-known 
Sunday-school  worker  to  secure  as  its 
editor.  At  once  I  questioned  in  my  mind 
whether  that  were  not  a  place  that  I  should 
be  fitted  for,  and  in  which  I  might  hope  to 
do  my  better  life  service.  As  I  had  known 
48 


%ct>  *Glnmt6tahabls  to  tbc  JEDitor's  Cbait 

Mr.  VVanamaker  for  years,  it  occurred  to 
me  that,  if  he  knew  that  I  would  be  willing 
to  leave  Hartford,  he  might  invite  me  to 
come  to  Philadelphia  and  edit  his  paper. 
But  for  me  to  suggest  such  a  thought  to 
him  would  be  like  telling  the  Lord  where 
I  would  hke  to  be  before  he  had  indicated 
his  purpose,  and  that  would  be  contrary 
to  my  life  principles  of  service  ;  therefore  I 
left  for  Canada  in  the  line  of  my  legiti- 
mate service,  having  prayerfully  committed 
all  my  interests  to  the  Lord  trustfully. 

Returning  to  Hartford  after  an  absence 
of  two  weeks,  I  found  awaiting  me  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Wanamaker  asking  if  I  would 
consider  a  proposition  to  remove  to  Phila- 
delphia and  become  editor  of  The  Sunday 
School  Times.  Mr.  Wanamaker  said  that, 
if  I  would  do  this,  he  would  like  to  have 
me  visit  Philadelphia  at  his  expense  for  a 
conference  on  the  subject.  I  accepted  this 
letter,  not  as  an  indication  that  I  was  to  be 
in  this  new  field  of  labor,  but  that  I  was  to 
consider  the  proposal  carefully.  Accord- 
49 


miusttattve  Bnswers  to  ipraieec 

ingly  I  so  wrote  to  Mr.  Wanamaker,  and 
afterwards  visited  him. 

Before  I  could  listen  to  any  formal 
proposition  to  assume  a  new  charge,  I 
must  be  sure  that  I  could  discharge  all 
obligations  already  assumed  or  under  con- 
sideration between  myself  and  other  parties. 
As  Mr.  Wanamaker  was  soon  to  leave  for 
Europe  for  an  absence  of  several  months, 
he  wanted  me  to  undertake  the  editorial 
work  at  once.  That,  I  told  him,  was  im- 
possible, as  we  were  arranging  for  an  Inter- 
national Sunday-school  Convention,  and  I 
was  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
and  could  not  abandon  that  work  while  it 
was  incomplete. 

He  was  then  ready  to  waive  the  question 
of  time.  Several  other  questions  were  sub- 
sequently, one  by  one,  disposed  of  This 
required  repeated  visits  to  Philadelphia. 
Everything  thus  far  seemed  to  indicate 
God's  purpose  of  leading  me  into  the  new 
field ;  but  until  I  was  sure  that  there  was 
no  existing  duty  as  a  barrier  to  my  enter- 
50 


ILcD  tllnmistaRablg  to  tbe  JEOttoc's  Ctbait 

ing  the  field,  I  declined  even  to  consider 
the  question  of  pecuniary  or  other  com- 
pensation involved,  lest  I  should  be  unduly 
influenced  in  my  mind  by  the  thought  of 
this.  And  now  comes  the  story  of  the 
most  striking  interposition  of  Providence 
as  furthering  the  settlement  of  the  pre- 
liminaries in  the  case. 

As  I  was  one  morning  leaving  Phila- 
delphia for  New  York,  in  the  course  of 
these  prayerful  conferences,  Mr.  Wanamaker 
asked  me: 

**  What  now  stands  in  the  way  of  your 
decision  ?  " 

"  I  must  see  two  other  persons, — one  of 
them  in  New  York,  the  other  in  Boston." 

*'  Why  not  go  at  once  and  see  them  ?  " 

"  Because  I  have  an  important  commit- 
tee meeting  in  Hartiord  the  day  after  to- 
morrow," I  replied  ;  "  and  I  must  be  at  that 
meeting." 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Wanamaker,  "  then  we 

must  wait,  and  hope  for  things  to  work 

out" 

51 


miustrative  Bnswera  to  ipraiscr 

On  my  way  to  Hartford,  as  I  entered 
a  car  at  the  Grand  Central  Station  in 
New  York,  to  my  surprise  I  saw  the  New 
York  man  whom  I  said  I  could  not  stop 
to  meet.  He  represented  a  prominent 
national  religious  society  that  wished  me 
to  superintend  a  department  of  its  evan- 
gelistic work.  I  had  promised  to  consider 
this  carefully,  and  I  wanted  to  learn  from 
him  the  details  that  would  enable  me  to 
know  what  was  my  duty.  He  was  in  the 
next  seat  to  mine  on  the  way  to  New 
Haven.  Sitting  down  by  him,  I  entered 
into  conversation,  and  obtained  the  desired 
information  without  telling  him  of  my  pur- 
pose, and  was  convinced  that  my  duty  was 
not  in  that  direction.  Before  we  reached 
New  Haven  the  first  barrier  of  which  I 
spoke  to  Mr.  Wanamaker  was  removed. 

When  I  rose  the  next  morning,  I  prayed 
earnestly  over  my  important  duties  of  the 
day  in  Hartford,  and  asked  that  the  Lord 
would  give  me  further  light  as  to  The 
Sunday  School  Times  matter.  My  next 
52 


XeD  lIlnmistaRabl^  to  tbe  BDitor's  Gbair 

desire  as  to  this  was  to  see  my  Boston 
friend,  Mr.  Thomas  C.  Evans.  Yet  there 
were  two  points  in  connection  with  my 
committee  meeting,  and  another  interest  for 
the  day,  that  burdened  my  mind  as  I  prayed. 
It  seemed  as  though  the  Lord  counseled 
me,  "  Go  down  town,  and  do  the  best  you 
can  there,  and  leave  the  rest  to  me." 

All  went  well  at  the  committee  meeting. 
The  points  of  difference  which  I  had  feared 
would  cause  trouble  were  settled  satisfac- 
torily to  all,  and  soon  after  noon  I  returned 
to  my  house  grateful  for  the  day's  results 
so  far. 

As  I  entered  the  door  of  my  house,  to 
my  great  surprise  I  saw  through  the  open 
parlor  door  my  friend  Evans  of  Boston 
sitting  inside.  He  had  never  before  en- 
tered my  house,  nor  had  he  now  any 
reason  to  suspect  my  special  desire  for 
an  interview  with  him.  In  my  amaze- 
ment I  called  out  to  him,  as  I  entered  the 
room  : 

"Tom  Evans,  what  brought  you   here 
53 


miugtratlve  Bnswccs  to  iprai^et 

to-day  ? — or,  rather,  what  do  you  think 
brought  you  ?  I  know,  but  I  would  like 
to  know  what  you  thinky 

"Well,  that's  the  queer  thing  about  it. 
Clay,"  he  responded.  "  Last  night  I  was 
at  my  brother's  home  in  Shelburne  Falls, 
above  Greenfield,  Massachusetts.  This 
morning  I  started  for  my  home  by  the  way 
of  Springfield.  Just  as  I  was  starting  [that 
was  about  the  time  I  was  praying  over  the 
case]  a  strong  impression  was  borne  in 
upon  my  mind,  *  Go  down  to  Hartford  and 
see  Clay  Trumbull.'  I  said  to  myself, '  I've 
nothing  to  see  him  for,  and  it  will  take  me 
out  of  my  way  and  delay  my  return  home.' 
Again  the  impression  came,  '  Go  down  to 
Hartford  and  see  Clay  Trumbull'  So  I 
came,  and  here  I  am." 

"That  is  right,"  I  said;  "and  now  I'll 
tell  you  what  you  came  for." 

Evans  was  a  friend  and  old  army  com- 
rade.    He  knew  much  about  newspapers 
and  their  business  side,  and  I  wanted  to 
have  his  counsel  on  several  points  before  I 
54 


%c^  'Ulnmistaftabl^  to  tbe  JEOitor's  Gbair 

could  decide  on  such  a  change  in  my  life 
occupation    as    I    was    now    considering. 
Therefore  it  was  that  I  was  so  anxious  to 
see  him.     With  that  afternoon's  talk  with 
Evans  the  last  preliminary  obstacle  to  my 
considering  Mr.  Wanamaker's  proposition 
was  removed,  and  I  wrote  him  accordingly. 
Soon  an  arrangement  was  made  by  which 
I  became  sole  editor  and  part   owner   of 
The  Sunday  School  Times,  and  my  son-in- 
law,  John  D.  Wattles,  became  the  business 
manager  and  a   part  owner  of  the  paper. 
Two   years   later  we   two   purchased   Mr. 
Wanamaker's  interest  in  the  business,  and 
we  had  entire  control.     And  this  was  the 
way  in  which  I  was  led  of  God,  step  by 
step,  to  the  editor's  chair,  for  my  work  in 
the  last  third  of  a  busy  life. 

When,  in  July,  1875,  I,  with  my  family, 
left  Hartford  for  Philadelphia,  I  said  con- 
fidently to  my  wife : 

"  Alice,  if  future  events  should  seem  to 
show   that   I   have   wrecked   my  business 
prospects,  and  even  my  reputation,  by  going 
55 


miustrative  Bnswera  to  praiger 

to  Philadelphia,  I  want  you  to  know  that 
I  was  sure,  when  I  left  Hartford,  that  God 
wanted  me  to  go  there.  Whether  I  per- 
sonally am  to  gain  or  lose  by  the  move, 
God  knows.  That  God  clearly  indicated 
his  wish  for  me  to  make  the  move,  /  know. 
The  result  I  am  glad  to  leave  with  God." 

That's  a  good  way  to  feel  about  any  and 
every  move  in  God's  service.  In  fact,  it  is 
the  only  right  way  for  a  child  of  God  to 
feel. 


S6 


VITI 

(3ob'5  iprotection  of  ®ne's  ©ooD 
Ulame 

My  friend,  Hon.  E.  A.  Rollins,  who  was 
Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  in  "  Re- 
construction Days,"  after  the  Civil  War, 
told  me  of  an  incident  in  his  experience 
that  emphasized  the  truth  which  I  now  con- 
firm by  a  recital  of  an  experience  of  mine. 
It  was  during  the  bitter  struggle  for  su- 
premacy between  President  Johnson  and 
Congress,  while  the  attempted  impeach- 
ment of  the  former  by  the  latter  was  in 
progress  with  all  its  excitements. 

One  evening  Mr.  Rollins  and  Hon. 
Roscoe  Conkling  had  occasion  to  be  in 
conference  with  a  friend  near  the  outskirts 
of  Washington.  It  was  after  midnight 
when  they  started  to  return  to  their  homes. 
On  their  way  they  met  unexpectedly  a  man 
who  was  commonly  suspected  of  being  an 
57 


Illustrative  Bnswers  to  prater 

agent  of  the  more  zealous  and  determined 
friends  of  the  President  in  the  effort  to 
prevent  his  impeachment.  It  was  even 
said  that  he  was  offering  bribes  of  money 
or  of  official  favor  in  order  to  win  votes 
from  the  opposition.  As  the  two  friends, 
who  were  acquaintances  of  this  man,  met 
him,  they  said  a  word  of  ordinary  saluta- 
tion, and  passed  on.  After  going  a  few 
yards,  Mr.  Rollins  said : 

"  Conkling,  suppose  we  were  seen  as  we 
were  speaking  to  that  man  just  now.  If  it 
were  told  in  Washington  to-morrow  that 
we  two  were  seen  out  here  in  conference 
with  that  man  after  midnight,  what  unjust 
suspicion  it  might  throw  on  us. 

**  We  couldn't  deny  the  fact  that  we  were 
out  here  speaking  with  him  after  midnight, 
and  we  shouldn't  have  the  opportunity  of 
explaining  to  all  how  it  happened,  or,  if  we 
did,  we  might  not  be  believed.  I  tell  you, 
Conkling,  we  are  always  in  danger  of  be- 
ing misunderstood  or  misrepresented,  even 
when  we  are  doing  the  best  we  can." 
58 


(3oD's  {protection  ot  ©ne's  (3oo&  Ulame 

To  Mr.  Rollins's  surprise,  Mr.  Conkling 
responded : 

"  Well,  Rollins,  we  ought  to  believe  that 
God  will  take  care  of  our  good  name  while 
we  are  honestly  doing  our  duty  in  his  ser- 
vice." 

Mr.  Rollins  suggested,  as  he  told  me 
this  incident,  that  this  truth  impressed  him 
more  as  uttered  by  Mr.  Conkling  than  if 
a  clergyman  had  said  it.  Yet  it  is  a  truth 
to  be  held  precious,  whoever  utters  it.  If 
God  can  be  trusted  to  guard  our  homes 
and  health  and  life,  we  can  surely  trust  him 
to  guard  the  greater  treasure  of  our  good 
name  and  reputation,  where  his  super- 
natural control  of  the  natural  is  even  more 
needed  here  than  in  those  other  spheres. 
My  conviction  on  this  subject  has  strength- 
ened with  the  passing  years,  and  I  have 
had  added  reason  to  be  grateful  that  this 
truth  is  a  truth. 

On  one  occasion,  not  long  after  the  Civil 
War,  I  was  sent  for  in  my  Hartford  home 
to  come  to  the  relief  of  a  Christian  mother 
59 


Illustrative  Bnswcrs  to  ipraset 

in  another  New  England  city,  who  desired 
my  counsel  and  assistance.  Her  wayward 
son,  in  whose  welfare  I  had  been  interested 
for  years,  had  run  away  from  home,  and 
she  had  heard  of  him  as  in  trouble  in  a  cer- 
tain district  of  Brooklyn,  New  York.  Her 
husband  was  ill,  and  was  in  such  a  con- 
dition that  she  could  not  even  tell  him  of 
her  trouble,  hence  she  was  all  the  more 
anxious  and  distressed.  When  I  learned 
the  facts  I  determined  to  attempt  her  relief 

Telling  my  wife,  who  alone  knew  of  my 
plans,  I  started  for  Brooklyn  to  find  the 
young  man.  As  the  visit  involved  some 
personal  peril,  and  my  wife  was  anxious 
for  me,  I  took,  to  encourage  her,  a  pistol 
that  I  had  carried  in  my  army  service.  In 
this  I  made  a  mistake  that  I  have  never 
since  repeated.  God  can  protect  his  child 
without  a  revolver. 

While  attempting  to  board  a   crowded 

car  at  a  street  corner  near  the  outskirts  of 

Brooklyn,    my    buttoned    overcoat    lapel 

caught  on  the  hand-rail  and  was  torn  open 
60 


(5oD'0  {protection  ot  ©ne'e  ©ooD  Ulame 

as  I  stepped  up.  My  pistol  fell  out ;  it 
struck  on  the  hammer  as  it  fell,  and  a  flash 
and  explosion  followed.  Cries  and  con- 
fusion resulted,  and  all  was  excitement. 
As  I  stepped  back  on  the  ground  I  picked 
up  my  pistol  unobserved  and  replaced  it 
in  my  pocket,  and  I  found  myself  in  the 
rapidly  increasing  crowd,  quite  unsuspected 
of  a  part  in  the  cause  of  this  excitement. 

As  I  stood  on  the  sidewalk  looking  at 
the  crowd,  I  saw  that  I  could  easily  walk 
off  unhindered ;  yet  that  would  be  unmanly. 
Seeing  a  policeman  near,  I  stepped  up  to 
him,  and  said  : 

"  I  am  the  cause  of  all  this  scene.  A 
pistol  accidentally  fell  from  my  pocket  and 
was  discharged.  It  may  have  wounded 
some  one.  I  want  to  put  myself  in  your 
care." 

It  proved  that  the  car  conductor  had  re- 
ceived a  slight  flesh  wound  in  the  calf  of 
his  leg.  I  went  with  my  protector  to  the 
police  station  office,  and  there  the  whole 

case  was  considered.     The  policeman  to 
6i 


Illustrative  Answers  to  iprager 

whom  I  first  spoke  reported  tha-t  I  had 
come  to  him  voluntarily  when  I  was  un- 
suspected, and  it  was  manifestly  an  acci- 
dent. I  saw  the  conductor,  and  told  him  I 
would  gladly  meet  all  expense  to  which 
he  might  be  subjected.  Then  I  was  per- 
mitted to  leave  unmolested,  on  the  givinfj 
of  my  personal  address.  I  inquired  par- 
ticularly if  it  was  essential  that  my  name  be 
made  public.  Being  told  that  the  police 
office  had  no  power  to  refuse  to  give  it 
to  the  press  if  requested,  I  had  to  accept 
the  state  of  things  as  it  was,  and  I  returned 
to  my  home. 

My  position  was  now  most  unfortunate. 
I  was  prevented,  by  the  nature  of  my  spe- 
cial mission  at  that  time,  from  explaining 
to  the  public  why  I  was  in  that  particular 
region  at  that  time,  with  a  loaded  pistol. 
A  newspaper  report  of  the  occurrence 
would  be  likely  to  throw  suspicion  on  me, 
without  my  having  the  power  even  to  at- 
tempt the  clearing  of  myself.     I  faced  an 

unpleasant  dilemma.     When  I  reached  my 
62 


(3oD'0  protection  of  ©ne'e  (3oo&  Ulame 

home  in  the  evening,  I  prostrated  myself 
before  the  Lord,  and  stated  the  case  as  it 
was. 

I  told  him  that,  while  I  saw  my  error  in 
having  the  pistol  with  me,  I  was  seeking  to 
do  his  work,  and  this  trouble  had  come 
upon  me  in  this  effort.  I  realized  that,  if 
my  good  name  was  smirched  in  the  opinion 
of  the  public,  I  ought  to  retire  from  his 
public  service,  for  God's  servants  should 
have  a  good  report  among  those  who  are 
without.  Hence  I  would  leave  it  to  him 
to  say,  by  the  issue  of  this  affair,  whether  I 
was  to  continue  in  my  special  work  for  him, 
or  to  retire  from  it ;  and  there  I  rested  it. 

It  was  with  no  ordinary  interest  that  I 
looked  into  the  New  York  papers  as  thev- 
came  to  Hartford  the  next  forenoon.  In 
at  least  three  of  the  principal  metropolitan 
dailies  the  report  of  the  affair  in  Brooklyn 
was  given  in  full ;  but  in  each  case  a  differ- 
ent name  was  given  as  mine,  and  in  no  in- 
stance had  it  any  resemblance  to  the  real 
one. 

63 


HUustrattve  Answers  to  IPrasct 

As  I  read  these  reports  I  dropped  on  my 
knees  before  God,  and  thanked  him  that  he 
had  thus  indicated  his  wish  that  I  should 
still  continue  in  his  work  under  his  guard 
and  guidance. 

How  good  it  is  for  a  child  of  God  to 
feel  that  in  every  peril  in  his  sphere  of 
God's  service  he  "  shall  abide  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Almighty"! 


64 


IX 

etven  a  treasure  in  jfdent) 
anb  IHelper 

God's  best  gifts  to  us  are  ordinarily  not 
in  our  finding  some  missing  material  treas- 
ure, or  in  enabling  us  to  discharge  some 
particular  duty,  but  in  his  bringing  to  our 
side  some  friend  or  helper  who  is  more  to 
our  mental  and  spiritual  life  than  we  dared 
to  think  of,  or  to  desire,  before  the  gift 
came  from  God.  In  this  line  I  have  had 
very  much  to  be  grateful  for  ;  and  it  is  of 
such  a  gift,  as  peculiarly  pointed  out  of 
God,  that  I  now  wish  to  bear  my  hearty 
testimony. 

In  the  spring  of  1870  I  was  living  at 
Hartford,  with  a  business  office  in  Boston,  in 
charge  of  the  general  missionary  operations 
of  The  American  Sunday-school  Union  fur 
the  New  England  field.  For  several  years 
I  had  had  a  valued  assistant  in  that  work, 
65 


miustrattve  Bn^wers  to  IPra^et 

in  Hartford,  aiding  me  in  my  official  corres- 
pondence and  in  the  details  of  S'Juday- 
school  movements  in  Connecticut.  Sud- 
denly that  assistant  was  called  to  another 
sphere  of  labor,  with  opportunities  pecu- 
liarly suited  to  his  talents  and  tastes,  and 
he  said  he  would  leave  it  with  me  to  say 
whether  he  should  accept  the  proffer,  to  my 
serious  inconvenience,  or  should  continue 
as  my  helper.  I  saw  that  it  was  my  duty 
to  advise  him,  for  his  own  sake,  to  accept 
the  position,  even  though  I  did  not  see  how 
I  could  replace  him  in  the  position  he  was 
occupying.  And  it  was  thus  that  I  found 
myself  needing  an  assistant  in  a  sphere  of 
the  Lord's  service,  without  knowing  which 
way  to  turn  for  him.  I  laid  the  matter 
before  the  Lord,  and  was  on  the  watch  for 
his  indications  of  help  to  me. 

On  the  third  Sunday  in  May,  I  was  a 
visitor  in  the  Sunday-school  of  the  Second 
Conc^reirational  Church  of  Norwich,  Con- 
necticut.     I  had,  in  advance,  no  reason  to 

suppose  that  I   might  there  have  any  indi- 
66 


(Btven  a  Zxcaenxe  In  ^clenD  anD  IHelper 

cation  as  to  the  supply  of  my  special  need, 
nor  was  this  need  peculiarly  in  my  mind  at 
the  time.  During  the  opening  exercises  I 
was  seated  between  the  superintendent  and 
the  singing-leader.  Just  as  I  was  bending 
my  head  in  prayer,  my  eyes  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  young  man  passing  through 
the  door  of  the  library-room  at  my  right 
hand.  I  did  not  see  the  full  face  even  for 
the  moment,  but  as  it  passed  from  sight 
the  message  was  borne  in  upon  my  mind 
from  above,  "  T/iat  is  the  young  man  who 
is  to  be  your  helper." 

When  the  prayer  was  concluded,  I  turned 
my  eyes  to  the  library-room,  and  I  saw  the 
}'oung  man  there.  Pointing  him  out  to  the 
singing-leader  by  my  side,  I  asked,  "  Who 
is  he  ?  "  The  answer  came,  "  That's  John- 
nie Wattles."  I  said,  "I'll  ask  you  about 
him  by  and  by ;  "  and  then  I  gave  myself 
again  to  the  exercises  of  the  hour. 

Later  I  was  told  that  "Johnnie  Wattles" 

was  assistant  in  a  well-known  apothecary's 

store  in  the  city,  where,  with   a  younger 
67 


Illustrative  Bnawers  to  prager 

brother,  he  was  learning  the  business,  in 
order  that  the  two  might  start  out  for  them- 
selves in  that  business.  It  seemed  most  un- 
likely that  he  would  be  willing  to  turn  aside 
from  his  life  work  to  assist  me  in  what  was 
little  more  than  a  temporary  clerical  posi- 
tion; but  I  felt  justified  in  following  up  the 
matter  in  the  line  of  the  mental  suggestion 
that  I  had  received  as  from  the  Lord.  I 
sought  an  interview  with  him,  and,  without 
telling  him  of  this  mental  suggestion,  I 
spoke  of  the  position  which  I  desired  to 
have  filled,  and  asked  him  if  he  would 
think  of  taking  it  I  spoke  of  the  inci- 
dental advantages  of  the  place  in  the  kind 
of  work  with  which  it  was  associated  and 
the  sort  of  people  with  whom  it  would 
bring  him  into  pleasant  relations.  He  ex- 
pressed surprise  at  my  interest  in  him  as  a 
stranger,  and  promised  to  look  carefully 
into  the  question,  and  let  me  know  his 
conclusions. 

I   did   not,  of  course,  propose  to  ignore 

reason  and  prudence  in  such  a  matter,  be- 
68 


<5iK'cn  a  Ztcaevitc  in  friend  ano  ji^clpcr 

cause  of  the  providential  prompting  which 
had  started  me  in  this  Hne.  I  consulted 
the  pastor  of  the  young  man  as  to  his 
character  and  capacity.  He  spoke  of  him 
with  warmth  as  of  a  lovely  spirit,  of  fine 
natural  capabilities,  and  of  firm  Christian 
principles.  Others  whom  I  consulted 
agreed  with  his  pastor  as  to  his  winning 
ways  and  his  sterling  worth,  and  I  had  no 
doubt  on  these  points. 

He  also  looked  into  the  matter  cau- 
tiously, and  consulted  various  advisers. 
Most  of  these  thought  he  would  be  unwise 
to  make  the  proposed  change,  but  his  pas- 
tor and  a  few  others  approved  his  inclina- 
tion to  accept  the  proffered  position.  In 
talking  it  over  with  me,  he  said  that  he  had 
felt  that  the  business  of  a  druggist  was  his 
life  work,  and  he  should  not  wish  to  turn 
permanently  aside  from  that  pathway  with- 
out clearer  indications  than  he  had  yet  re- 
ceived of  the  Lord's  wish  for  him  to  change. 
I  told  him  that  he  would  be  entirely  free  to 

try  it  for  only  a  year  as  an  experiment. 
69 


HUustrative  'Bmwae  to  ipra^r 

I  was  all  the  while  careful  not  to  attempt 
to  influence  him  in  the  slightest  degree  in 
favor  of  accepting  my  proposition  by  any 
suggestion  that  in  my  opinion  it  would  be 
wise  for  him  to  do  so.  I  wanted  him  left 
free  to  act  as  he  thought  God  would  have 
him.  I  wanted  him  to  come  only  if  God 
wanted  him  to.  And  I  knew  that  if  God 
wanted  him  to  come  he  would  come. 

Four  weeks  after  the  subject  \yas  first 
broached  to  him,  he  wrote  me  as  follows: 
"  I  believe  I  have  looked  carefully  at  both 
sides  of  the  question  which  you  have  so 
kindly  left  entirely  v/ith  me,  and  am 
thoroughly  prepared  to-night  to  decide.  I 
most  gladly  and  heartily  offer  myself  to 
you,  hoping,  as  I  do  so,  that  it  may  prove 
for  our  mutual  good.  Ever  since  I  had 
the  first  interview  with  you,  I  have  been 
delighted  with  the  idea  of  making  the 
change,  and  have  not  now  the  least  doubt 
in  my  mind  but  that  it  is  the  very  best 
thing  I  can  do.  It  seems  almost  a  miracle 
to  me  that  you  should  have  noticed  me  as 
70 


(5iven  a  treasure  in  jfrienD  and  IHelper 

you  did,  and  much  more  that  you  should 
have  once  thought  of  asking  me  to  take 
the  place;  and  I  can  only  hope  and  pray 
that  I  may  be  such  an  assistant  to  you  as 
you  have  anticipated.  I  am  afraid  that  I 
shall  not  come  up  to  your  expectations, 
but  shall  try,  and  do  the  best  I  can.'" 

At  the  time  he  first  came  to  me,  Mr. 
Wattles  was  a  little  more  than  twenty  years 
old,  but  his  fair  face  and  youthful  appear- 
ance made  him  seem  hardly  more  than 
eighteen.  Yet  he  was  of  most  engaging 
manners,  and  he  commanded  confidence 
without  limitation.  He  won  every  heart  at 
the  start  by  his  looks  and  ways,  and  he 
held  every  heart  to  the  last  by  his  sterling 
worth.  Outside  of  his  office  work,  his  first 
experience  in  the  Sunday-school  field  was 
as  superintendent  of  a  mission  school  in 
Hartford,  where  the  roughest  boys  and  the 
most  cultivated  teachers  were  alike  under 
the  spell  of  his  winsome  presence.  Then 
he  was  for  a  while  the  leader  of  the 
teachers'-meeting  of  the  Asylum  Hill  Con- 
71 


HUuetrative  Bnswcrs  to  ©raser 

gregational  Church,  in  its  weekly  study  of 
the  Sunday-school  lesson.  Among  those 
teachers  were  men  and  women  of  rich  ex- 
perience and  disciplined  minds,  including  a 
distinguished  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  state ;  and  all  were  alike  charmed 
and  helped  by  his  leadership.  While  not 
having  the  advantages  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion, Mr.  Wattles  had  clearness  of  mind  in 
the  perception  of  truth,  and  sound  good 
sense  in  the  use  of  all  his  powers.  More- 
over, he  worked  diligently  in  preparation 
for  any  service  he  was  called  to  attempt, 
and  he  never  assumed  to  know  what  he 
did  not  know  positively. 

Before  six  months  had  passed,  Mr.  Wat- 
tles said  that  he  would  never  go  back  to 
his  former  position,  even  at  ten  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  He  felt  that  God  was  lead- 
ing him  to  better  service.  He  soon  had 
his  younger  brother  in  another  branch  of 
the  work  which  now  had  his  heart,  and  he 
himself  was  pressing  onward  and  upward. 

He  became  the  general  secretary  of  the 
72 


6it>en  a  treasure  (n  3frieno  ano  IKelper 

Connecticut  Sunday-school  Association, 
and  he  developed  special  power  in  or- 
ganizing and  directing  movements  for  the 
improvement  of  the  Sunday-schools  of  the 
state.  He  showed  himself  also  an  effec- 
tive speaker  in  conventions  and  institutes 
throughout  New  England.  Moreover,  he 
was  showing  power  and  gaining  influence 
and  winning  friends  more  and  more  widely 
all  the  time. 

And  in  this  way  my  life  came  to  be 
linked  with  the  God-led  life  of  John  D. 
Wattles,  who  was  later  my  loved  friend, 
my  dear  son-in-law,  my  business  partner, 
and  a  helper,  an  example,  and  an  inspira- 
tion to  me,  while  proving  himself  a  helper 
and  an  inspiration  to  many  thousands  of 
those  who  never  saw  his  face  or  heard  his 
voice,  and  an  example  to  every  one  who 
ever  knew  him  as  he  was.  And  when,  at 
his  life's  close,  after  my  twenty-three  years 
of  loving  companionship  with  him,  I  came 
to  look  back  over  the  way  he  was  led  of 
God  so  willingly,  so  trustfully,  so  loyally, 
73 


Tlllustrative  Bnswcrs  to  ipra^ser 

even  to  the  hour  when  he  was  led  beyond 
our  human  sight,  I  rejoiced  that  I  was  per- 
mitted to  be  so  near  him  in  his  constant 
walk  with  God,  and  to  have  seen  so  clearly 
the  loveliness  of  such  a  God-led  life. 


74 


X 


Ueacbtng  Xessons  of  Zvnst  to  m^ 
Helper 

Because  John  Wattles,  my  God-given 
friend  and  helper,  was  younger  than  my- 
self in  years  and  Christian  experience,  I 
felt  it  to  be  my  duty  and  privilege  to  give 
him  the  benefit  of  any  lesson  I  had  learned 
in  God's  service,  and  he  was  ever  ready  to 
heed  and  to  profit  by  such  suggestions. 
These  lessons  were  in  various  Hnes,  as 
from  time  to  time  I  thought  he  had  special 
need. 

One  afternoon,  as  he  came  into  my  Hart- 
ford home  after  several  hours'  absence  in 
the  city,  he  mentioned  to  me  that  he  had, 
since  he  went  out,  lost  a  gold  sleeve-button 
which  he  greatly  prized  as  a  souvenir.  I 
asked  him  what  efTort  he  had  made  to 
recover  it.  He  answered,  "  None,"  for  he 
had  been  in  so  many  places,  since  he  left 
7' 


illustrative  Answers  to  ipra^er 

home,  that  he  had  no  reason  for  looking  in 
any  one  place  more  than  another. 

A  lesson  that  I  then  desired  to  teach 
him  was  the  importance  of  persistent  thor- 
oughness in  whatever  he  had  to  do,  so  I 
said  to  him : 

"  Well,  I  think  you  had  better  not  say 
that  you  can't  find  it  in  any  place  till  at 
least  you  have  looked  in  all  places  where 
you  may  have  left  it.  Why  not  carefully 
retrace  your  steps  to  the  ten  places  or  the 
twenty  that  you  have  been  in  since  you 
last  saw  it,  and  see  what  comes  of  that  ?  " 

Promptly  he  started  out  to  do  as  I  sug- 
gested, while  I  remained  at  my  study 
table. 

As  I  sat  writing,  the  thought  came  to 
me  that  I  had  started  my  young  friend  on 
this  mission  in  his  own  strength,  without 
suggesting  to  him  that  it  was  only  by 
God's  guidance  that  he  could  hope  to  be 
successful,  and  for  that  guidance  he  should 
pray  at  the  start.  For  this  omission  I  re- 
proached myself,  and  was  heartily  ashamed. 
7(> 


tieacbinfl  %ce6one  of  ^rust  to  ih«  IHelper 

Dropping  on  my  knees  by  my  study  chair, 
I  prayed  to  God  : 

"  Father,  forgive  me !  Here  have  I 
started  out  this  loved  child  of  thine  on  a 
search  where  he  needs  tliy  special  help, 
without  suggesting  that  he  should  seek 
that  help  trustfully.  Moreover,  I  have  not 
myself  prayed  for  thy  help  to  him.  Grant 
now  that  he  suffers  no  loss  through  my 
failure  toward  thee." 

As  I  rose  from  my  knees,  John  Wattles 
entered  the  outside  door,  saying,  "  I've 
found  the  sleeve-button."  At  this  the 
thought  came  to  me,  "  Your  prayer  then 
had  nothing  to  do  with  this ;  for  he  must 
have  found  the  button  before  you  prayed." 
"Tell  me  where  you  found  it,"  I  said. 

"Well,  that's  strangest  of  all,"  he  re- 
sponded. "  I  had  retraced  my  steps  so  far 
as  I  could  recall  them,  looking  about  me 
all  the  way,  but  I  reached  the  house  again 
without  finding  anything.  Just  as  my  hand 
was  on  the  door-knob  to  enter  here,  I  was 
prompted  to  stop  and  look  back,  and  there 
77 


miustrativc  Answers  to  iprasct 

on  the  very  door-step,  where  it  must  have 
been  all  the  while,  was  the  missing  sleeve- 
button." 

There  was  not  much  room  to  doubt 
God's  part  in  all  this.  I  told  Wattles  of 
my  conscious  failure  and  my  penitent 
prayer,  and  then  we  kneeled  together 
before  God,  and  gave  him  thanks  for  our 
newly  learned  lesson,  and  we  tried  thence- 
forward to  profit  by  it. 

After  some  three  years  in  the  work  to 
which  I  had  originally  invited  him,  Mr. 
Wattles  came  to  feel  that  at  the  best  there 
was  no  immediate  prospect  there  of  promo- 
tion into  any  such  service  as  would  seem 
to  be  worthy  of  the  best  endeavors  of  his 
life,  and  he  began  to  look  about  him  for  a 
more  promising  sphere.  The  life-insurance 
field  was  at  that  time  offering  special 
inducements  to  energetic .  canvassers,  and 
he  had  reason  to  think  he  might  be  pecu- 
liarly successful  in  it.  He  came  to  me 
seeking  counsel  in  the  matter.  I  asked 
him  whether  he  thought  that  God  had 
78 


tleacbitiQ  ILessons  ot  Crust  to  ms  Helper 

called  him  to  the  place  he  was  now  in. 
He  said  he  did.  I  asked  him  whether  this 
place  still  demanded  all  the  powers  he  now 
had.  He  said  it  did.  I  asked  him  whether 
God  had  given  him  any  special  indication 
that  he  ought  to  go  elsewhere.  He  said 
he  had  not.  I  asked  him  whether,  in  case 
God  really  wanted  him  to  stay  where  he 
was  all  his  life,  with  no  other  gain  than  the 
gain  of  serving  God  there,  he  would  be 
willing  to  yield  all  his  personal  ambitions 
and  desires  for  other  service,  and  to  live 
and  die  just  there. 

He  thought  over  this  question  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  then  he  said  heartily  that  he 
was  ready  to  be  led  of  God  as  to  his  life 
work,  and  that  he  would  trust  God  to  show 
him  just  where  he  could  best  serve  and 
honor  God.  Here  was  another  turning- 
point  in  his  life  path,  or,  rather,  another 
point  at  which  he  refused  to  turn  from  that 
path.  Within  a  year  of  that  time  the  great 
financial  crash  of  1873  came,  with  its  shat- 
tering, for  the  time,  of  the  best  possibilities 
79 


HUusttatlve  Busvvets  to  IPcaset 

of  the  field  that  had  seemed  so  tempting 
to  him ;  and  within  a  little  more  than  two 
years  there  came  to  him  an  opening  to 
remove  to  Philadelphia  with  me,  and  be- 
come a  part  owner,  and  the  business  man- 
ager, of  The  Sunday  School  Times,  where 
he  continued  to  life's  close.  Thus  again 
he  saw  that  God  was  ready  to  lead  one 
who  wanted  to  be  led  of  God. 


80 


XI 


Uauabt  Xessons  ot  ffaitb  b)?  mp 
Helper 

Although  from  my  greater  experience, 
when  I  first  came  to  know  John  Wattles,  it 
was  my  privilege  to  teach  some  lessons  in 
trustful  service  to  that  new  friend  and 
helper,  he  soon  passed  on  before  me  in  the 
path  of  such  service.  It  was  not  long 
before  I  realized  gratefully,  as  did  all  who 
knew  us,  that  he  was  in  advance  of  me  in 
restful  faith,  as  he  was  in  love  and  zeal  and 
practical  efficiency,  and,  in  consequence,  I 
came  to  lean  on  and  to  look  up  to  my 
young  and  admirable  strong-souled  friend 
and  partner. 

When  he  and  I  assumed  entire  and  joint 
control  of  The  Sunday  School  Times  its 
circulation  was  less  than  twenty-five  thou- 
sand.      Largely    through    his    ability   and 

energy  that  circulation  rose  to  more  than 
8i 


Illustrative  2lnswers  to  ipra^er 

one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  at  which 
point  it  continued  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death.  In  all  my  editorial  work,  I  was 
helped  by  his  wise  counsel  and  aided  by 
his  hearty  co-operation.  I  could  have  done 
little  without  him ;  and  he  deserved  the 
credit  for  much  of  the  best  that  was  secured 
in  every  department  of  the  paper,  in  all  the 
years  after  he  joined  me  in  its  manage- 
ment. 

Clearness  of  head,  quickness  of  percep- 
tion, grasp  of  principles  of  action,  unswerv- 
ing integrity,  firmness  of  purpose,  coupled 
with  remarkable  winsomeness  of  manner, 
were  marked  characteristics  in  the  business 
dealings  of  Mr.  Wattles.  All  who  were 
brought  in  contact  with  him  felt  that  he 
was  a  man  whom  they  could  trust  utterly, 
while  he  was  not  to  be  easily  imposed 
upon,  nor  turned  from  his  convictions  or 
judgments. 

A    good    illustration    of    his    uniform 
method  of  dealing  v/ith  others  in  important 

business  transactions  was  given,  in  a  letter 
82 


tlaugbt  Xessons  of  3Faitb  bs  mis  Melpct 

written,  during  the  last  few  months  of  his 
life,  to  one  who  was  acting  as  his  repre- 
sentative in  the  negotiation  of  a  large  con- 
tract, which  he  would  be  very  glad  to 
secure.  Speaking  of  the  interviews  of  his 
representative  with  the  other  party  to  the 
contract,  he  said  :  "  Don't  shozv  any  anxiet}' 
over  the  matter.  Don't  have  any  anxiety. 
Be  awfully  courteous  and  accommodating, 
but  quietly  determined ;  and  smile  sweetly 
if  the  whole  thing  falls  through." 

But  in  all  and  above  all  it  was  the 
beautiful  rest  of  his  faith  that  was  the 
source  of  his  power,  and  that  was  felt  to  be 
so  by  all  who  were  with  him  or  who  came 
under  his  personal  influence.  That  was 
indeed  a  cause  of  gratification  and  an  in- 
citement to  me. 

Although  having  the  appearance  of 
health,  Mr.  Wattles  was  in  his  later  years 
courageously  resisting  for  a  long  time  a 
tendency  to  acute  diseases  of  the  lungs. 
For  eight  years  he  was  compelled  to  pass 
a  portion  of  every  winter  in  Florida ;  and 
83 


miusttatlve  Bnsvvers  to  IP  tagger 

soon  after  his  return  from  the  South,  in 
April,  1 89 1,  he  was  brought  very  low  with 
a  complication  of  lung  troubles.  Before 
his  physician  had  observed  any  fresh  cause 
of  illness,  Mr.  Wattles  was  impressed  with 
the  thought  that  God  was  about  to  lead 
him  into  a  deeper  flood  than  he  had  yet 
passed;  and,  in  his  quiet  faith,  his  only 
anxiety  in  view  of  it  was  for  his  dear  ones, 
not  for  himself  As  he  sat  alone  in  his 
room,  on  the  evening  before  his  outburst 
of  disease,  he  penciled  these  lines  on  a 
newspaper  wrapper,  in  expression  of  his 
feelings  of  the  hour. 

THROUGH    THE   WATERS 

Indeed  I  know 
That  thou  wilt  be  with  me ; 

For  here  below 
Thy  touch  has  won  my  confidence. 

But  may  I  know 
That  thou  wilt  be  with  them 

Whom  I  love  so  ? 
Then  with  joy  could  I  go  hence. 
Whether  the  waters  should  be  deep  and  wide, 
Or  what  ma^-  be  upon  the  other  side, 
84 


Cauabt  TLceeone  ot  jfaltb  bs  ms  JHelper 

It  matters  not ; 
For  I  indeed  do  know 
That  thou  wilt  be  with  me, 

Since  here  below 
Thy  touch  has  won  my  confidence. 

But  may  I  know 
That  thou  wilt  be  with  them 

Whom  I  love  so  ? 
Then  with  joy  can  I  go  hence. 

The  attack  of  disease  was  a  violent  one, 
and  its  precise  nature  somewhat  obscure, 
and  he  sank  under  it  steadily,  despite  the 
skill  of  the  ablest  physicians,  and  the  cur- 
rent of  loving  prayers  that  went  up  for  him 
continually.  Finally  the  physicians  them- 
selves felt  that  the  end  was  very  near,  and 
they  permitted  me  to  speak  freely  with  him 
of  matters  that  called  for  consideration,  in 
view  of  his  approaching  death,  as  I  had 
told  them  I  must  before  he  should  be 
finally  unable  to  respond  to  me.  So,  one 
Sunday  afternoon,  I  kneeled  by  his  bedside, 
and  spoke  lovingly  of  our  long-time  rela- 
tions and  of  the  possibilities  of  the  future, 
asking  him  how  I  might  act  for  him  and 
85 


miustrative  Answers  to  IPraiger 

his,  and  for  our  common  interests,  in  his 
absence. 

I  had  for  years  so  leaned  upon  him  in 
uie  business  management  of  our  affairs, 
that  I  felt  quite  incompetent  to  take  up  the 
entire  burden  of  them  at  that  time ;  and  I 
feared  I  should  utterly  break  down,  if  I  were 
left  alone.  In  my  weakness  I  burst  out  with 
the  agonizing  cry,  "Dear  John,  I  don't  see 
how  I  can  live  on  and  do  my  work  without 
you ! " 

That  cry  of  mine  was  an  appeal  to  his 
unselfish  soul  that  he  could  not  resist.  As 
he  told  me  afterwards,  he  then  saw  with 
surprise  and  anxiety  what  my  condition 
was,  and  that  I  really  felt  I  could  not  at 
that  time  do  what  needed  to  be  done  with- 
out him.  And  although,  as  he  said,  he  had 
not  before  prayed  for  his  recovery,  he  at 
once  asked  God  to  allow  him  to  get  up  and 
help  me.  "  And  as  soon  as  I  asked  this  of 
God,"  he  said,  "  I  was  assured  that  it  would 
be  so.     I  knew  I  should  get  up."     In  his 

trustfulness    he   had  not  prayed   for  pro- 
86 


Caugbt  %C36onB  of  f  aitb  bv>  m^  IHelper 

loncred  life  on  his  own  account ;  but  if 
he  was  really  needed  here  for  the  sake 
of  others  he  would  ask  prolonged  life  for 
their  sake,  and  if  he  asked  it  he  knew  it 
would  be  given. 

As  showing  how  God  works  through 
human  means  for  the  accomplishing  of  his 
divine  purposes,  that  very  afternoon,  when 
things  looked  so  dark  for  John  Wattles's 
recovery,  his  two  physicians  were  prompted 
to  attempt  an  experimental  operation  that 
offered  small  prospect  of  success,  and  that 
might,  indeed,  hasten  the  end.  That  opera- 
tion was  successful  beyond  their  most  san- 
guine anticipations.  And  so  my  friend  and 
helper  was  raised  from  that  bed  of  death  ; 
and  he  set  himself  without  delay  to  the 
arranging  of  our  business  affairs,  and  to 
the  training  of  his  successor,  so  as  to  en- 
able me  to  bear  the  responsibility  that 
would  be  on  me  when  he  should  finally  be 
taken  away.  He  w^as  sure  that  God  was 
leading  him  in  all  his  life  work,  and  that  God 
would  sustain  him  until  it  was  completed. 
87 


HUustrative  Bnswers  to  iDra^er 

It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  if  God  had 
been  ready  to  release  him  earlier  from  all 
struggle  and  suffering,  and  that  he  him- 
self was  ready  to  go.  But  my  call  to  him 
for  help  made  him  ask  God  that  he  might 
get  up  again,  and  live  on  awhile,  at  what- 
ever cost  to  himself,  in  order  to  render  me 
assistance  in  God's  service. 

And  for  two  years  after  that  he  suffered 
and  toiled  lovingly  and  uncomplainingly, 
doing  for  others,  and  teaching  us  all  lessons 
of  love  and  trust.  In  his  last  letter  to  me 
from  his  Florida  home,  where  he  entered 
into  his  rest,  he  wrote  of  his  Saviour's 
sustaining  presence,  "  I  think  that  nothing 
but  constant  suffering  could  have  brought 
me  to  realize  as  I  do  that  I  may  have 
some  of  his  own  strength  every  day,  as 
well  as  be  a  sharer  of  his  life  forever.  It  is 
indeed  a  wonderful  thing,  but  it  is  true, 
that  we  can  live  in  him." 

Neither  death  nor  life  was  able  to  sepa- 
rate him  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in 

Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 
88 


XII 

(3o^*5  ZcnbcxncBS  witb  a  Boubttna 
truster 

It  does  not  follow  that  one  who  has  had 
most  reason  to  trust  God  trusts  him  most 
confidently.  This  has  been  true  from  the 
beginning,  and  man's  hesitancy  in  trusting 
God's  promised  love  and  loving  care  is 
still  manifest  on  every  side  among  the 
children  of  men. 

Abraham,  father  of  the  faithful,  when 
pleading  for  Sodom,  seemed  to  tire  of  inter- 
ceding with  God  before  God  tired  of  grant- 
ing his  requests.  Gideon,  ^'  mighty  man 
of  valor  "  that  he  was,  when  specially  called 
of  God  to  the  deliverance  of  hfs  people 
from  the  Midianites,  and  assured  that  he 
should  have  success,  asked  sign  after  sign 
from  God  in  testimony  that  God  meant 
what  he  said.  He  asked,  as  he  left  over- 
night a  fleece  of  wool  on  the  threshing- 
89 


miustrative  Bnavvcrs  to  ipra^er 

floor,  that  God  would  send  dew  on  the 
fleece,  while  there  should  be  no  dew  on  the 
ground  about  it.  When  this  was  done,  Gideon 
was  not  quite  satisfied.  He  asked  that  God 
would  try  it  the  other  way,  and  send  dew 
on  the  ground  around  the  fleece,  while  the 
fleece  was  kept  dry.  This  was  like  God  in 
his  loving  tenderness  with  one  who  had 
doubt  even  while  he  trusted.  And  Gideon 
evidently  had  a  good  deal  of  human  nature 
in  him,  in  his  hesitancy  in  his  faith,  even 
while  he  was  a  man  of  uncommon  faith  and 
of  uncommon  valor.  It  is  easier  to  doubt 
when  one  has  no  reason  to  doubt,  than  to 
have  faith  where  one  has  every  reason  to 
have  faith. 

A  young  Christian  worker,  whose  ex- 
periences of  God's  loving  tenderness  I  had 
occasion  to  know  not  a  little  about,  was  a 
striking  illustration  of  this  truth  in  God's 
dealings  with  his  children,  even  with  those 
for  whom  he  seems  to  be  doing  most,  year 
by  year.     He  began  his  Christian  life  while 

a  poor  boy  near  the  border  hne  between 
90 


(5oD*6  tTcnDemess  witb  a  IDoubtina  tTrustet 

Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  When 
brought  to  consecrate  his  Hfe  to  Christ's 
service,  he  gave  himself  unreservedly  to 
that  service.  He  had  neither  education 
nor  the  means  to  secure  it,  nor  had  he 
friends  to  help  him  along  in  his  studies; 
but  with  all  that  he  was,  and  with  all  his 
lack,  he  put  himself  at  God's  disposal,  to 
be  used  as  God  should  direct. 

He  had  the  idea  that  serving  God  wholly 
meant  being  in  the  work  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  at  home  or  abroad.  Yet  how  he 
could  prepare  himself  for  the  ministry  he 
had  no  idea.  In  his  uncertainty,  therefore, 
he  went  on  his  knees  before  God,  and 
asked  for  guidance.  He  told  God  that  he 
would  start  out  at  once  on  a  course  of 
preparation  for  the  ministry.  If  this  was 
right,  God  would  continue  to  help  him. 
If  he  had  erred  in  judgment  in  counting 
this  his  proper  course,  God  would  cease  to 
open  the  way  for  a  farther  advance,  and  he 
would,  when  thus  stopped,  know  that  he 
must  seek  some  other  line  of  service. 
91 


HUustrattve  Bnswers  to  prater 

When  I  first  met  him  he  was  near  the 
close  of  his  course  in  the  theological  semi- 
nary. He  told  me  how  God  had  led  him 
along  step  by  step,  giving  him  repeated 
evidences  of  his  approval  when  he  had 
special  need  of  help.  Yet,  he  said,  he 
had  found  himself  doubting,  or  question- 
ing, at  each  temporary  obstacle  or  hin- 
drance, as  if  God  had  not  yet  fully  proved 
himself  as  his  guide  and  helper. 

For  instance,  after  he  had  worked  his 

way  along  through  his  preparatory  studies, 

he  came  to  a  point  where  he  could  not 

pass  beyond  the  Greek  Reader  without  a 

Greek  lexicon ;  and  yet  he  had  no  money 

for   the   purchase    of  such   a   work.      He 

seemed  at  a  standstill.      It  looked  as   if 

God's  hindrance  had  come.     He  laid  the 

matter  before  the  Lord,  and  then  waited. 

For  a  day  or  two  he  studied  out  his  lessons 

by  the  aid  of  the  glossary  at  the  back  of 

the  Reader,  but    he  knew  that  he  could 

not  go  on  in  that  way  much  longer. 

One  day  he  was  sent  for  to  the  hotel  to 
92 


(5oD'0  ^cnDetncsa  witb  a  H)oubtlna  Cruetet 

see  a  stranger  who  had  inquired  for  him. 
Going  there,  he  was  told  that  the  stranger 
was  closing  up  the  estate  of  a  clergyman 
who  had  died  in  another  town.  Some  of 
that  clergyman's  books  were  to  be  given  by 
his  executor  where  they  could  do  good 
to  others.  The  stranger  having  heard  of 
this  student  as  working  his  way  along  to 
the  ministry,  had  brought  these  books  for 
him  to  choose  from.  As  the  student  was 
shown  the  books  on  the  stranger's  table,  he 
saw  there  the  Greek  lexicon  of  which  he 
was  in  need.  He  took  it,  and  thanked  the 
stranger.  Then  he  thanked  God,  and  took 
courage. 

He  confessed,  as  he  told  me  his  experi- 
ences, that  he  was  frequently  troubled  with 
doubts  as  to  whether  he  was  really  being- 
led  of  God;  yet  God  was  evidently  dealing 
tenderly  with  the  doubting  truster.  On 
one  occasion,  after  he  reached  the  theo- 
logical seminary  in  his  course,  he  was  so 
distressed  on  this  point  that  he  prayed 
earnestly  about  it  one  forenoon.  He  even 
93 


tllastrattvc  Hnswcrs  to  ipra^et 

a^ked  the  Lord  to  give  him  a  more  posi- 
tive sign  than  before  in  order  to  encourage 
his  faith.  He  had  need  just  now  of  five 
dollars,  to  enable  him  to  take  his  next  step 
in  this  path  of  duty,  and  he  knew  not 
where  to  turn  for  it.  If,  indeed,  he  were  to 
receive  five  dollars  in  a  letter  by  mail  just 
at  this  time,  he  would  know  that  the  Lord 
had  sent  it  to  encourage  his  faith.  He  had 
never  had  a  gift  of  money  sent  him  in  this 
way.  So,  Gideon-like,  he  asked  this  new 
sign  from  the  Lord. 

After  this  season  of  prayer  he  lay  down 
on  the  outside  of  his  bed  and  slept  a  tired 
sleep.  He  awaked  refreshed  at  noon,  and 
went  to  his  dinner  without  a  thought  of  his 
doubt  or  his  prayer.  After  dinner  he  went 
with  some  of  his  fellow-students  to  the 
city  post-office  at  the  hour  of  the  principal 
mail  distribution.  To  his  surprise,  a  letter 
addressed  to  him  was  handed  out  with  the 
seminary  mail.  On  opening  it,  he  found  it 
was  from  an  uncle  of  his  in  New  York 
State,  who  had  never  before  given  him  any 
94 


6oD'0  XIenDernc33  witb  a  2)oubttng  Crustet 

assistance,  but  who  now  enclosed  five  dol- 
lars, having  heard  that  he  was  working  his 
way  to  the  ministry,  and  might  be  glad  of 
a  little  help.  It  would  seem  as  if  such  a 
child  of  God  ought  to  be  ready  to  trust 
such  a  Father  in  heaven.  He  might  have 
been,  if  he  had  not  had  so  much  human 
nature  in  him,  Gideon-like. 

It  was  quite  a  number  of  years,  from  the 
time  when  he  determined  to  enter  upon  a 
course  of  study  with  a  view  to  the  Chris- 
tian ministry,  before  he  completed  that 
course  in  his  graduation  from  the  theologi- 
cal seminary.  He  had  only  a  few  dollars 
when  he  began  his  studies  in  the  village 
academy.  He  had  toiled  hard  to  secure 
his  support  in  working  his  way  up  by  slow 
degrees.  During  his  last  year  in  the  semi- 
nary he  had  occasionally  supplied  a  pulpit 
in  the  country,  and  received  compensation 
for  that  service.  On  receiving  his  pay  for 
such  a  ministry  on  the  Sunday  before  his 
graduation,  as  he  told  me  soon  afterwards,  he 
found  that  he  had  a  few  dollars  more  than 
95 


lUu6tratlve  Bnswers  to  ipraieet 

he  started  out  with  on  his  consecrated 
course.  As  he  then  looked  back  to  that 
beginning,  he  realized  how  good  God  had 
been  to  him  in  all  these  years,  and  he  won- 
dered that  he  could  have  ever  doubted 
God. 

I  had  the  privilege  of  helping  that  child 
of  God  into  his  needy  home-missionary 
field  in  California,  and  to  hear  from  him 
after  he  was  there ;  and  I  was  privileged  to 
be  used  of  God  in  answering,  as  it  were, 
another  of  his  prayers  in  an  hour  of  his 
need  in  his  mission  field.  My  friend,  Hon. 
Henry  P.  Haven  of  New  London,  in  writing 
to  me  one  day,  asked,  in  a  way  that  was 
his  frequent  method,  at  the  close  of  his 
letter  on  some  business  matter: 

"  Do  you  know  of  any  one  of  God's  chil- 
dren to  whom  I  ought  to  send  twenty 
dollars?  If  you  do,  I'll  send  that  sum  to 
you."  I  replied  that  I  knew  such  a  man, 
and  I  told  him  of  this  home  missionary, 
who,  as  I  was  well  aware,  had  difficulty  in 

getting  along  in  his  new  field. 
96 


(5oD'0  ^euDernesa  wttb  a  Wonbtim  tTrustec 

Learning-  that  the  young  man  was  in 
California,  Mr.  Haven  sent  a  check,  payable 
in  gold,  as  that  was  the  standard  there, 
while  specie  payments  were  suspended 
throughout  the  country.  In  acknowledg- 
ing the  gift,  my  home-missionary  friend 
told  me  that  I  could  not  know  how  timely 
its  receipt  was.  He  had  found  his  scat- 
tered parish,  or  local  field,  more  than 
twenty  miles  long,  and  he  had  to  do  all  his 
visiting  on  foot.  One  day,  one  of  his 
parishioners  told  the  new  pastor  that  he 
must  get  a  horse,  and  that  a  man  who  was 
interested  in  the  work,  and  with  whom  he 
had  been  talking  on  the  subject,  would  let 
him  have  a  little  pony  suitable  for  his  pur- 
pose for  twenty  dollars  in  gold,  which  was 
much  less  than  its  worth. 

My  friend  said  that  his  parishioner  little 
thought  that,  with  his  starvation  pittance 
of  support,  twenty  dollars  was  as  hope- 
lessly beyond  his  means  as  two  hundred  ; 
so  he  merely  thanked  him,  and  told  him 
that  he  would  think  it  over.  And,  just 
97 


miuetrattvc  Bnswcrs  to  Ipra^er 

after  this  conversation,  my  letter  with  Mr. 
Haven's  gold  check  came  in,  and  the  mis- 
sionary pony  was  secured. 

With  the  frequent  repetition  of  such 
evidences  of  God's  guidance  given  to  us,  or 
to  those  whom  we  know  or  know  of,  it  is 
indeed  strange  that  we  are  not  readier  in 
our  need  to  pray  and  to  trust,  nothing 
doubting.  Yet  God  does  not  get  dis- 
couraged with  us,  nor  lack  in  his  loving 
tenderness.  This  is  because  He  is  what  he 
is,  and  because  he  knows  that  we  are  what 
we  are. 


98 


XIII 

trrusttng  (3o^  ratber  tban  a  Cbtl& 
of  (Bob 

It  is  hard  for  us  to  learn  that  our  faith 
must  rest  on  God,  rather  than  on  God's 
promises,  or  on  God's  word,  or  on  our 
prayers  to  God  in  our  need,  or  on  our  best 
work  in  his  service  according  to  his  com- 
mandment and  the  indications  of  his  provi- 
dences. It  is  because  God  is  God  that  we 
should  trust  him  utterly,  and  have  confi- 
dence in  his  promises,  and  prize  his  word, 
and  pray  as  he  invites,  and  work  as  he 
directs.  Back  of  all  that  represents  God  is 
God  himself,  and  he  is  to  be  trusted  above 
all.  An  occasion  when  I  had  reason  to 
emphasize  the  duty  of  trusting  God  rather 
than  a  child  of  God  brought  out  this  truth 
more  clearly  to  my  own  mind. 

A  troubled  Christian  mother  sent  for  me 
in  an  hour  of  dire  distress.  Her  only  son 
99 


miustrattve  Bnswers  to  Si>raser 

had  been  for  a  while  wayward  and  dissi- 
pated. She  had  prayed  for  him  earnestly 
and  constantly.  After  a  while  he  had  been 
brought  into  the  church,  and  had  become 
an  active  Christian  worker.  This  gave  her 
joy  unspeakable.  But  now  he  had  fallen 
back  again.  He  had  seemingly  lost  his 
faith.  He  had  left  his  home,  and  enlisted 
in  the  navy,  and  had  sailed  to  the  far  East. 
His  mother  was  broken-hearted  and  well- 
nigh  in  despair. 

I  asked  her  if  she  had  less  reason  to 
have  faith  in  God,  as  she  now  prayed  for 
her  boy,  than  before.  She  said  that,  of 
course,  she  couldn't  have  as  much  ground 
of  faith  while  her  son  was  a  reprobate  as 
when  he  was  active  in  Christian  work. 

"  Is  the  difference  in  God  or  in  your 
boy  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  The  difference  is  in  my  boy,"  she  said, 
''  and  that  is  what's  troubling  me." 

"  On  whom  did  your  faith  rest  when 
your  boy  was  doing  best  ?  " 

'•'  On  God,  of  course." 

lOO 


Crusting  GoO  ratber  tban  a  CbUD  ot  0oJ) 

"  And  has  God  changed  ?  " 

"  Of  course  not." 

"  Then  why  is  your  faith  lessened  ?  " 

"  Because  of  my  poor  boy's  failure." 

"  Then  you  are  looking  at  your  boy  as 
if  he  were  the  ground  of  your  faith,  instead 
of  at  God." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  suggest,"  said  the 
anxious  mother,  "  that  even  now,  while  my 
poor  boy  is  in  his  present  state,  I  can  look 
up  to  God,  and  pray  for  my  boy  as  trust- 
fully as  I  prayed  while  he  was  active  in 
Christian  work  ?  Do  you  mean  to  suggest 
that?" 

"  If  3'our  faith  rests  on  God,  you  can 
pray  to  him  just  as  confidently  now  as  ever 
for  whatever  he  can  do  for  you  or  your 
boy.  But  you  must  look  at  God,  and  not 
at  your  boy,  while  you  pray,"  I  said. 

"  Then  I'll  do  that,"  said  the  anxious 
mother;  and  she  turned  again  to  God  in 
need  and  in  trust. 

Two  months  or  so  after  that,  that  mother 
sent  for   me   again.     She  had   received  a 

lOI 


miustrattve  Bnswers  to  ipra^er 

letter  from  her  son  that  gladdened  her 
heart.  It  was  from  the  vessel  he  was  on  in 
the  Chinese  seas.  It  was  a  letter  full  of 
penitence  and  of  good  purposes,  and  of 
hope  and  trust ;  and  it  told  a  touching 
story. 

About  the  time  when  the  mother  turned 
anew  to  God  in  her  New  England  home 
with  a  pra)-er  of  fresh  faith  for  her  wander- 
ing boy, — before,  of  course,  he  could  have 
had  any  word  from  her  about  it, — as  he 
was  on  the  deck,  one  sunny  afternoon,  in 
those  far-off  Chinese  waters,  a  call  seemed 
to  come  to  him  from  God  summoning  him 
to  turn  from  his  evil  courses  to  his  better 
self,  and  to  God  and  to  his  old  faith  in 
God ;  and  a  sense  of  his  sin  and  his  need 
came  over  him.  Overpowered  by  his  feel- 
ings, he  went  down  into  the  forecastle  and 
prostrated  himself  before  God,  confessing 
his  sins,  and  asking  for  pardon  and  help  to 
do  differently.  And  now  he  wrote  to  his 
mother  as  a  penitent  child,  asking  her  to 
pray  for  him,  and  telling  her  of  his  sorrow 

J02 


trusting  (5oD  ratbec  tban  a  CbilD  ot  (3oD 

and  his  new  purpose  of  living  a  new  life  by- 
God's  help. 

That  glad-hearted  mother  was  ready  now 
to  perceive  and  to  say  that  it  is  ever  better 
to  trust  in  God  than  to  trust  in  any  child 
of  God,  even  her  own  child.  That's  a 
lesson  for  all  of  us  to  learn  and  to  value. 

A  clergyman  in  Eastern  Massachusetts, 
whom  I  knew  well  about  that  time,  told 
me  of  a  good  Scotch  mother  in  his  parish 
who  had  learned  this  precious  lesson,  and 
who  found  comfort  in  it.  She  had  given  her 
boy  to  God  at  his  birth,  and  she  felt  that 
she  and  hers  were  in  the  everlasting  cove- 
nant with  God.  Faithfully  she  trained  her 
boy,  but  he  went  astray.  While  sad-hearted 
over  this,  she  did  not  despair ;  for  her  faith 
rested  on  God,  not  on  her  boy. 

Going  to  God  with  her  loving,  trustful 
heart,  she  said  in  confident  assurance, — an 
assurance  that  God  honors  in  a  child  of 
his, — "  Lord,  I  am  thine,  and  Johnnie's 
mine,  and  we  are  thine.  Lord,  thy  John- 
nie's going  astray.  Bring  him  back,  Lord ; 
103 


HUuatrative  Answers  to  ipra^jer 

bring  him  back.  Lord,  if  Johnnie's  lost, 
in  the  Great  Day  his  blood  will  I  require 
at  thine  hand." 

Such  holy  boldness,  in  a  child  of  God, 
will  never  fail  of  its  purpose.  When  a 
troubled  father  came  to  Jesus  with  his 
demon-possessed  child,  and  asked  for  his 
help,  Jesus  said,  "  If  thou  canst  [believe]  ! 
All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  be- 
lieveth  [for  his  as  well  as  for  himself]  " 
(Mark  9  :  17-25).  Then  that  father  cried 
out,  "  I  beHeve  [for  my  child  and  for 
myself] ;  help  thou  mine  unbelief"  And 
the  needed  help  was  given.  That  is  God's 
way  with  his  children. 


104 


XIV 

Stmllar  Biperiences  bp  personal 

When  a  child  of  God  has  any  personal 
experience  of  joy  or  of  sorrow,  of  trial  or 
of  encouragement,  that  seems  peculiar  and 
exceptional,  he  is  likely  to  find  that  others 
— more,  perhaps,  than  he  has  imagined — 
have  had  similar,  if  not  the  same,  experi- 
ences, and  that  he  is  by  no  means  solitary 
in  his  opportunity  of  learning  the  lessons 
which  God  would  thus  teach  him.  What- 
ever encouragement  God  gives  to  any  child 
of  his  to  call  upon  him  in  his  need,  accord- 
ing to  God's  invitation  and  promise,  every 
other  child  of  God  in  like  need  can  have 
from  God  if  he  will  rightly  claim  it. 

This,  indeed,  is  the  chief  reason  for  my 
recording  these  illustrative  answers  to 
prayer  that  have  come  witliin  my  range  of 

personal  experience,  or  the  experience  of 

105 


1lllU6trati)?e  2lnswcrs  to  ipraijer 

those  personally  known  to  me.  I  have  by 
no  means  recorded  all  of  the  remarkable 
answers  to  prayer  that  have  been  accorded 
to  me  in  the  years  of  my  Christian  life, — 
nor  yet,  indeed,  even  the  most  remarkable 
of  them, — but  I  have  selected  a  few  of  those 
most  likely  to  be  of  help  to  God's  children 
who  read  this  record. 

I  have  often  given  to  younger  disciples 
illustrations  of  my  way  of  praying  to  God 
for  special  help,  and  of  God's  way  of  giving 
help  to  me  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  need 
and  of  trust.  This  I  have  done  to  encour- 
age or  strengthen  their  faith  ;  and  at  times 
they  have  come  back  to  tell  me,  joyfully, 
of  God's  dealings  with  them,  in  response  to 
their  prayers,  as  tenderly  and  lovingly  as  I 
had  urged  them  to  expect. 

An  illustration  of  this  was  in  the  case  of 

an  earnest  young  Christian  disciple  whom 

I  had  been  privileged  to  lead  to  the  Master 

when  we  were  first  together  in  a  health 

resort  in  East  Florida,  soon  after  the  Civil 

War.     The  special  duties  and  privileges  of 
1 06 


Similar  Siperienccs  b^  {personal  ^rtenDs 

the  child  of  God  were  quite  new  to  him 
when  he  entered  that  service,  and  he  was 
g^lad  to  hear  everv  word  of  sup-p;estion  or 
counsel  that  I  gave  him  in  that  line.  This 
matter  of  special  answer  to  particular 
prayers  in  things  of  our  ordinary  life 
seemed  to  him  at  first  almost  too  won 
derful  and  too  good  to  be  true.  Yet  he 
listened  to  and  pondered  all  that  I  said  on 
that  subject,  and  wished  that  he  could 
verify  it  in  his  own  experience. 

One  summer,  he  was  in  the  White 
Mountains.  In  his  wandering  among  the 
hills,  one  day,  he  lost  a  valuable  diamond 
stud.  Missing  it  when  he  returned  to  the 
hotel,  he  regretted  its  loss,  but  its  finding 
seem.ed  out  of  the  question.  At  this  junc- 
ture, m.y  teachings  on  the  subject  of  special 
prayer  came  to  him  with  fresh  force.  He 
realized  that  he  could  not  by  himself  hope 
to  find  the  missing  stud  among  the  loose 
stones  on  the  rough  mountain  side,  where 
he  had  been  wandering  that  afternoon,  as 

he  might  have  hoped  to  had  he  lost  it  on 
107 


miustrattve  Answers  to  iPra^cr 

an  ordinary  highway.  Yet  God  could 
direct  him  to  it  wherever  it  was,  if  that, 
indeed,  were  God's  way. 

Kneehng  before  God,  he  stated  the  case 
as  a  young  disciple.  He  told  God  that  he 
realized  that,  of  himself,  he  was  helpless  in 
such  a  search,  but  that  he  was  going  to 
attempt  it,  and  he  asked  God's  guidance  in 
it.  If,  indeed,  he  found  the  stud,  he  would 
accept  this  as  indicating  that  God  approved 
his  faith  in  such  a  matter.  It  was  not 
merely  the  diamond  stud  that  he  sought  to 
recover,  it  was  encouragement  to  his  faith 
through  God's  help.  In  that  spirit  he 
clambered  again  the  mountain  side. 

His  eye  of  sense,  quickened  by  the  light 
of  faith,  was  alert  and  watchful  as  he  went 
again  over  the  rough  path  in  the  direction 
of  his  former  wanderings.  Soon  the  glis- 
tening of  the  diamond  among  the  stones  of 
the  mountain  path  attracted  his  attention, 
and  he  came  back  to  his  hotel  to  thank 
God  for  his  guidance,  and  with  renewed 

and  increased  faith  as  more  precious  than 
io8 


Similar  JBxpcxicnccs  bs  {Personal  jfrienOs 

a  thousand  diamonds.  As  I  watched  him 
in  the  subsequent  years,  I  could  bear  wit- 
ness to  this,  as  he  encouraged  others  to  a 
like  faith  in  God. 

Another  illustration  of  willingness  to 
trust  God  utterly  was  given  to  me  by  a 
friend  and  co-worker  in  Boston,  when  I 
was  in  charge  of  the  New  England  Sun- 
day-school missionary  field.  In  his  boy- 
hood his  godly  mother,  with  two  children 
dependent  on  hei",  had  small  means  of  sup- 
port, and  at  times  she  did  not  know  where 
her  next  day's  sustenance  was  to  be  found. 
Yet  her  faith  in  God  never  failed  or  fal- 
tered. She  trusted  him  fully  for  herself 
and  hers,  whatever  her  circumstances  were. 

One  evening,  there  cam.e  a  call  on  her 

for  help  to  a   needy  neighbor.     She  was 

sure  that  that  appeal   was   one   to  which 

God  would  have  her  respond.     She  had,  at 

that  time,  only  fifty  cents  in  the  world,  with 

two  children  to  care  for ;  but  she  had  that, 

and  God   knew  it,  and  yet  this  appeal  as 

from  him  had  come  to  her  for  what  she 
109 


HUustratire  Bnswers  to  Ipraiser 

had,  and  she  would  not  refuse  it.  Her 
children  had  been  already  fed  for  the  day. 
They  needed  nothing  more  till  to-morrow. 
Like  the  widow  of  Zarephath,  when  Elijah, 
God's  prophet,  asked  from  her  bread  that 
seemed  needed  for  her  hungr)^  child,  this 
widow  gave  at  God's  call. 

She  gave  her  last  fifty  cents  to  the  poor 
neighbor,  who  was  to  her  as  a  messenger 
of  God.  Then  she  committed  herself  and 
hers  trustfully  to  God,  nothing  doubting. 
As  if  to  honor  and  approve  her  faith,  that 
same  evening  a  ring  was  heard  at  her  door- 
bell. Going  to  the  door,  she  found  no  one 
there,  but  an  unaddressed  envelope  was 
found  under  the  door,  containing  five  dol- 
lars, which  she  took  as  a  fresh  gift  from 
God,  and  thanked  him  for  it  most  grate- 
fully. That  was  the  only  like  experience 
in  her  Christian  life ;  yet  this  was  enough 
to  strengthen  her  faith,  and  the  faith  of  her 
two  sons,  who  were  reared  in  God's  ser- 
vice. 


no 


XV 

©raider  ot  a  SolMer  prisoner 
Hnsvvereb 

It  has  often  been  the  case  that  one  who, 
in  the  face  of  impending  death,  promised 
that  his  Hfe,  if  spared,  should  be  devoted  to 
God's  service,  has  forgotten  that  promise 
when  God  has  given  him  safety.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  have  been  those  who 
made  such  a  promise  in  the  hour  of  peril, 
and  afterwards  redeemed  it  faithfully.  Such 
an  instance,  in  the  case  of  a  young  army 
comrade  of  mine,  stands  out  as  memorable 
in  my  life  recollections. 

During  all  my  three  years  of  army  ser- 
vice, my  regiment  was  brigaded  with  the 
Twenty-fourth  Massachusetts  Regiment. 
During  portions  of  the  time  that  regiment 
had  no  chaplain,  and  I  was  pri\'ileged  to  be 
on  terms  of  kindly  intimacy  with  both  its 

officers  and  its  enlisted  men.    Among  those 
III 


miustrative  Slnswers  to  iprascr 

men  who,  on  Seabrook  Island,  in  the 
spring  of  1863,  kept  up  a  praying  circle  in 
order  to  promote  their  Christian  life  and 
growth,  there  was  a  young  corporal  who 
interested  me  by  his  intelligence,  his  frank 
and  hearty  ways,  and  his  Christian  de- 
votedness.  On  the  Sunday  before  he  left 
for  the  war,  he  had  stood  up  alone  in  his 
country  home  church  and  made  a  public 
profession  of  his  Christian  faith,  and  from 
that  hour  he  had  been  faithful  to  his  pro- 
fession. He  also  had  a  good  name  for 
bravery  and  fidelity,  and  readiness  to  per- 
form every  soldier  service  to  which  he  was 
summoned. 

When,  in  the  early  summer  of  1864,  we 
were  in  Virginia  as  a  part  of  the  Army  of 
the  James,  co-operating  with  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  General  Butler  called  for 
a  volunteer  scout  to  venture  through  the 
enemy's  lines,  at  Bermuda  Hundred,  and 
obtain  information  as  to  the  position  and 
movements  of  the  enemy.     In  response  to 

this  call,  this  young  corporal  of  the  Twenty- 
112 


IPraisct  of  a  SolDier  {prisoner  SlnswereO 

fourth  volunteered,  although  it  involved  the 
peril  of  being  taken  and  treated  as  a  spy. 

Having  scouted  successfully  within  the 
enemy's  lines  for  two  or  three  nights,  and 
obtained  important  information  that  would 
have  been  invaluable  to  his  commander,  he 
was  captured  just  as  he  was  about  attempt- 
ing a  return  to  his  command.  When  cap- 
tured and  brought  before  a  Confederate 
commander,  the  first  proposition  was  to 
hang  him  at  once  as  a  spy,  without  a 
formal  trial.  But  it  was  decided  to  confine 
him  in  the  jail  in  Petersburg  until  he  should 
be  formally  tried  and  condemned  by  a  court- 
martial.  In  this  emergency  his  chief  prayer 
to  God  was  not  that  his  young  life  should 
be  spared,  but  that  he  might  be  faithful  even 
unto  death  ;  and  God  heard  his  prayer,  and 
gave  him  strength. 

Rapid  movements  of  troops  from  Vir- 
ginia to  Georgia  were  frequent  just  then 
within  the  Confederate  lines,  in  consequence 
of  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea.  The  young 
captured  scout  was  sent,  with  those  having 
113 


miustrative  Bnswcrs  to  ipra^er 

him  in  charge  and  with  the  evidence  in  his 
case,  to  Georgia,  and  he  found  himself 
facing  death  in  the  jail  in  Macon.  It  was 
then  and  there  that  the  young  soldier's 
new  consecration  to  God  occurred. 

On  his  knees,  behind  the  grated  door  of 
his  hope-barred  cell,  he  pleaded  that  he 
might  have  prolonged  life  and  restored 
liberty.  In  no  mere  selfish  love  of  life  and 
liberty,  he  promised  that,  if  his  life  be 
spared,  it  should  be  given  wholly  and 
heartily  to  the  service  of  Christ.  In  speak- 
ing to  me  long  afterward  of  this  longing 
prayer,  he  said  sincerely  :  "  I  told  God  that, 
if  my  life  were  spared,  I  should  know  he 
did  it ;  for  there  was  no  other  hope  for  me 
then  ;  "  vain  was  the  help  of  man. 

At  the  very  time  that  the  officer  having 

in  charge  his  case,  as  an  alleged  spy,  was 

preparing  to  come  to  the  jail  to  take  him 

out  for  trial,  there  was  an  alarm  outside  of 

the    city.     A  portion   of  Sherman's   army 

had  made  a  circuitous  movement  in  that 

direction.     This  officer,  among  others,  was 
114 


IPcagct  ot  a  SolOiec  iDrisoner  BnswereO 

hurried  to  the  front,  and  in  the  changes 
that  followed  he  was  removed  elsewhere, 
and  the  papers  in  the  case  of  the  captured 
scout  were  not  to  be  found  in  Macon ;  and 
he  was  thenceforward  held  as  an  ordinary- 
prisoner  of  war. 

He  could  never  have  any  doubt,  from 
that  hour  onward,  that,  in  response  to  his 
faith-filled  prayer,  God  had  given  him  pro- 
longed life  when,  except  to  the  eye  of 
faith,  such  a  thing  seemed  impossible. 
Although  afterwards  he  had  weary  months 
of  imprisonment  and  varied  vicissitudes  of 
soldier  service,  he  was  ever  confident  that 
he  was  living  to  serve  God  as  he  had 
promised  to,  and  he  longed  still  to  be  true 
and  faithful  unto  death. 

After  the  war  I  knew  him,  as,  for  years, 
he  was  striving  to  make  good  his  vow  of 
consecration ;  and  I  have  rarely  met  a 
young  soldier  of  Christ  who  was  more 
zealously  true  to  the  blood-stained  banner 
under  which  he  was  enrolled.  Having  se- 
cured a  hundred  dollars  through  lecturing 
115 


HUustratifc  Bnswcrs  to  praiger 

o.n  his  army  and  prison  experiences,  he 
started  with  that  sum  to  work  his  way 
through  PhilHps  Academy  at  Andover. 
As  he  pursued  his  studies,  he  swept  out 
the  schoolroom,  and  performed  other  tasks, 
at  fifteen  cents  an  hour.  In  the  early 
morning,  and  at  other  odd  times,  he  did 
farm  work  outside  of  the  village  to  eke  out 
his  support.  At  times  he  found  difficulty, 
even  with  all  his  hard  work,  to  support 
himself  in  the  Academy. 

On  rising  one  morning  he  found  himself 
without  a  cent  of  money  in  the  world. 
Going  to  God,  he  prayed  earnestly  for  help, 
and,  a  few  minutes  later,  he  found  fif- 
teen dollars  between  the  pages  of  a  book 
which  he  took  up  for  study.  Some  fiiend, 
knowing  his  need,  had  taken  that  delicate 
way  of  aiding  him.  As  the  young  student 
told  of  this  fresh  experience  of  God's  good- 
ness, he  said  gratefully,  and  in  faith  :  "  God 
will  do  so  again,  if  it  is  best.  If  God 
wants  me  to  stay  at  school,  I  have  no  fear 

but  that  he  will  find  a  way  for  me  to  get 
it6 


IPra^er  ot  a  SolDler  prisoner  Hnswere^ 

along  there."  Why  should  any  child  of 
God  feel  any  other  way  about  his  Father's 
care  of  him  ? 

Counting  his  life  as  spared  in  order  that 
he  might  devote  it  wholly  to  his  Saviour's 
service,  there  was  nothing  that  he  enjoyed 
more  than  special  work  for  his  Master 
during  the  years  when  he  was  studying 
hardest  to  fit  himself  for  future  work.  At 
Andover  he  taught  in  a  mission  school, 
took  active  part  in  prayer-meetings,  and 
conversed  on  the  subject  of  personal  re- 
ligion with  his  schoolmates.  Two  even- 
ings in  every  week  he  spent  with  the  pupils 
of  his  mission  school,  in  order  to  promote 
their  spiritual  welfare.  All  this  was  not 
from  a  mere  sense  of  duty,  it  was  a 
delight  to  him.  "  How  much  real  enjoy- 
ment it  gives  me  to  work  for  Jesus ! "  he 
said.  "  All  other  pleasures  fade  away,  and 
are  lost,  by  the  side  of  it." 

Again  he  wrote,  "  I  don't  see  how  any 

one  can  help  doing  all  the  good  he  can 

I  have  an  insatiable  thirst  after  perishing 
117 


miustrative  Bnswers  to  jPra^ct 

souls,  and  hope  and  pray  that  God  will 
lead  me  to  do  good  wherever  I  am.  ...  I 
am  thankful  for  the  hope  that  perhaps,  ere- 
long, I  can  throw  aside  all  other  things, 
and  enter  with  my  whole  heart  upon  the 
work  of  saving  souls.  .  .  .  My  heart  pants 
to  be  wholly  engaged  in  my  Master's 
service." 

There  was  no  room  for  doubt  that  he 
was  faithful  to  the  promise  which  he  made 
when  he  prayed  for  prolonged  life  on  his 
knees  in  Macon  jail,  as  he  faced  the  gal- 
lows.    It  was  this  way  to  the  last. 

At  one  time  he  told  me  of  his  dis- 
appointment, through  failing  health,  in  Iiis 
plans  for  Christian  effort.  He  had  gone  to 
a  place  in  Vermont  where  there  was  great 
lack  of  such  endeavor.  He  thought,  as 
he  said,  that  even  he  could  do  something 
there.  But  the  day  he  reached  the  place 
he  was  taken  ill,  and  had  no  power  to  do 
any  work  there.  As  he  expressed  it, 
"Jesus   didn't  need  me  in  Vermont.     He 

has  never    needed    me    anywhere,  but  he 
ii8 


Ipra^er  of  a  SolDtcr  {prisoner  BnswereD 

has  let  me  work  for  him  sometimes.  Oh, 
if  I  ever  get  well  enough  to  work  for  him 
again,  sha'nt  I  be  thankful  for  it !  " 

But  his  health  was  hopelessly  broken 
down  by  his  long  imprisonment  in  jail  and 
stockade,  his  privations  and  endurances  in 
swamp  and  dungeon,  and  his  severe  army 
service,  and  he  had  to  give  up  his  endeavor 
to  enter  the  ministry  or  to  engage  in  any 
active  Christian  labors.  After  a  season  in 
the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  he  re- 
turned to  his  old  home  in  the  country,  and 
lay  down  to  die. 

To  the  last  he  had  no  thought  of  com- 
plaining, but  he  found  constant  cause  of 
thanksgiving.  When,  in  his  humble  home 
in  Northern  Massachusetts,  he  was  simply 
waiting  his  summons  for  muster-out  from 
earthly  service,  he  told  gratefully  of  God's 
goodness  in  sending  to  him,  unexpectedly, 
relatives  and  friends  whom  he  had  desired 
to  see  once  more. 

Again,  when  he  was  pressed  for  means 

to  supply  his  daily  necessities,  a  sister  came 
119 


tlUuetrattpe  Answers  to  IPra^er 

to  him  one  morning  to  say  that  a  letter  had 
been  received,  covering  a  gift  of  thirty  dol- 
lars for  his  use.  A  pleasant  smile  came 
over  his  face  as  he  responded,  **  I  prayed 
for  money  last  night.  It  was  the  first  time 
I  had  asked  for  that  in  a  good  while." 

At  the  young  soldier-scout's  request 
I  visited  him  in  his  home,  and,  as  I 
sat  by  his  dying-bed,  he  asked  me  if  I 
would  conduct  his  funeral  service,  and  tell 
his  old  friends  and  neighbors  of  God's 
wonderful  goodness  to  him.  It  was  that 
truth  which  he  wanted  me  to  impress  on 
those  who  had  known  him,  and  who  were 
now  to  know  of  his  experience.  I  did  as 
he  desired,  and  I  never  tire  of  repeating 
that  story  as  an  illustration  of  God's  loving 
readiness  to  do  for  his  children  according 
to  their  needs  and  their  faith. 


I20 


XVI 

Mow  Gob  %ct>  the  Xeabers  m  tbe 
Centennial  Bxbibitton 

It  is  not  merely  help  and  guidance  to  an 
individual  child  of  God  that  God  gives  in 
response  to  faith-filled  prayer.  If  two  or 
more  are  agreed  as  to  what  together  they 
need  in  God's  service,  they  may  have  con- 
fidence that  he  will  hear  and  respond  to 
them  according  to  their  need  and  their 
faith.  And  if  God's  children  unitedly  pray 
to  him  in  behalf  of  a  cause  which  in  any 
true  sense  represents  his  interests  or  his 
honor,  they  may  be  sure  that  God  is  more 
interested  in  the  object  of  their  prayer 
than  they  are.  An  illustration  of  such  a 
struggle  as  this,  where  I  was  privileged  to 
know  much  of  it,  and,  indeed,  in  which  I 
had  a  certain  part,  is  worthy  of  mention  in 
this  series  of  testimonies. 

When   the   "  United    States    Centennial 

121 


miuBtrattvc  IHnswers  to  ipcai^cr 

Celebration  and  Exhibition  of  1876,"  in 
Philadelphia,  was  arranged  for,  it  was  the 
first  exhibition  of  leally  an  international 
character  that  had  been  undertaken  by  this 
new  nation  of  ours,  and  many  an  important 
practical  question  had  necessarily  to  be 
met  for  the  first  time  by  those  responsible 
for  its  management.  One  of  these  ques- 
tions was  the  Sunday  question.  This  grew 
to  unexpected  importance  as  the  months 
progressed,  and  it  finally  became  a  center 
of  moral  and  spiritual  conflict. 

Until  that  time,  six  days  had,  in  this 
country,  been  counted  an  ordinary  week's 
work.  Places  of  amusement  or  of  exhibi- 
tion were  "  open  every  day  in  the  week, 
Sundays  excepted!'  This  was  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course.  The  first  regulations  de- 
cided on  by  the  Centennial  Commission,  of 
representative  men  from  every  state  and 
territory,  appointed  by  Congress,  were 
framed,  two  years  before  the  exhibition, 
with  the  usual  exception.     But  as  the  time 

for    the    opening  drew  near,  there  was  a 
122 


Bow  <5oD  XcD  tbe  XcaDers 

movement  to  secure  the  letting  down  of  the 
bars  that  would  close  the  great  exhibition 
one  day  in  seven. 

Money-making  was  the  main  thing  at 
the  bottom  of  the  Sunday-opening  ad- 
vocacy, whatever  nominal  plea  was  put 
forth  by  its  representatives.  Railroad  com- 
panies coming  into  Philadelphia  had  mil- 
lions at  stake  in  the  question  at  issue. 
Various  other  parties,  whose  larger  or 
lesser  gains  were  involved,  were  ready  to 
aid  any  organized  movement  to  induce  the 
Centennial  Commission  to  reverse  its  an- 
nounced decision. 

Of  course,  it  would  never  do  for  these 
workers  to  say  that  it  was  a  mere  matter 
of  dollars  and  cents  that  prompted  their 
zeal.  It  sounded  much  better  to  talk  of 
the  interests  of  the  working  classes,  who 
could  come  into  Philadelphia  on  Sunday  as 
on  no  other  day  in  the  week  to  receive 
good  impressions  in  that  great  international 
educating  agency  now  available  only  for  a 
season.  Thus  in  one  way  and  another,  a 
123 


TlUustrative  Answers  to  ipra^er 

powerful,  unscrupulous,  and  determined 
organization  to  effect  the  change  was  se- 
cured, and  its  work  began  to  be  felt. 

There  are  always  some  in  the  community 
who  are  ready  to  work  on  the  wrong  side 
because  it  is  wrong.  Then  there  are  men 
who  will  join  with  the  evil-disposed,  or  will 
wish  them  success,  because  tJiey  can  make 
money  through  the  triumph  of  evil.  More- 
over, there  are  more  or  less  social  cranks, 
and  weak-minded  ministers,  and  other  pro- 
fessed Christians,  who  can  be  drawn  into 
the  support  of  almost  any  measure — good 
or  bad — to  which  a  determined  man  urges 
them.  Hence  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that,  at  this  time,  petitions  in  favor  of  the 
Sunday  opening  of  the  exhibition  were 
presented  to  the  Centennial  Commission 
signed  by  a  great  many  bad  men  who 
would  do  wrong  for  its  own  sake;  by  a 
great  many  others  who  would  do  wrong 
when  they  were  paid  for  it;  by  many 
flabby-minded  men  who   had  no  positive 

opinions  to  adhere  to  with  or  without  pay; 
124 


Mow  (3oD  XeO  tbc  XeaOers 

and  also,  doubtless,  by  some  conscientious 
but  misguided  men.  As  to  the  other  side 
of  the  question,  there  was  little  need  of 
petitions.  Public  sentiment  on  the  in- 
volved issue  was  well  understood.  The 
better  portion  of  the  community  was 
largely  in  favor  of  Sunday  closing. 

It  was  shrewdly  planned,  by  the  friends 
of  Sunday  opening,  to  secure  by  various 
means  a  majority  of  the  Centennial  Com- 
mission to  favor  rescinding  the  earlier  vote 
for  Sunday  closing,  and  then  to  bring  the 
matter  up  for  decision,  and  press  for  an 
immediate  vote,  just  before  the  open- 
ing day  of  the  great  exhibition.  Once 
opened  on  Sundays  with  the  approval  of 
the  Commission,  it  would  be  practically 
impossible  to  close  it  again.  When  the 
members  came  together  just  before  the 
first  of  May,  they  found,  on  mutually  con- 
ferring, that  apparently  a  decided  majority/ 
would  vote  for  reversing  the  previous 
action.     Then  came  a  time  of  anxiet)-  for 

the  friends  of  Sabbath  observance. 
125 


miuetrative  Bnswers  to  ©raiser 

I  was  so  circumstanced  at  this  time  as 
to  know  much  of  the  movements  of  both 
sides.  On  the  day  before  the  vote  was  to 
be  taken,  my  old  commander  and  friend, 
the  President  of  the  Commission,  told  me 
of  the  situation  as  he  saw  it.  He  said 
modestly :  "  I  know,  Chaplain,  that  you 
have  more  faith  than  I  have  that  God 
gives  special  help  in  an  emergency  in 
answer  to  special  prayer.  So  I  want  you 
to  pray  to-night  for  God's  help  in  this  con- 
test." That  very  utterance  showed  this 
leader's  faith.  It  was  in  itself  the  prayer, 
"  Lord,  I  believe ;  help  thou  mine  unbe- 
lief." 

As  we  two  were  talking  together  at  that 
time,  an  earnest  and  hard-working  advo- 
cate of  Sunday  opening,  a  member  of  the 
Commission,  came  up,  and  said  exultingly  : 
"  It's  no  use.  We've  got  you.  You'll  find 
that  out  to-morrow."  And,  on  the  face  of 
it,  it  looked  so. 

Before  going  home,  I  went  to  my  office, 

and   stated  the   case   to    my  associate  in 
126 


!How  6oD  %ctf  tbe  XeaDecs 

editorial  work,  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  A. 
Peltz,  a  man  of  faith  and  prayer,  and  asked 
him  to  pray  earnestly  that  night  that  God 
would  help  in  this  crisis.  And  there  were 
godly  members  of  the  Commission  who 
were  praying  the  same  prayer  that  night. 
When,  on  my  knees  that  evening,  I  essayed 
to  pray  for  God's  help,  my  words  strangely 
seemed  to  come  back  to  me.  It  was  as 
though  God  said,  "  There  is  no  necessity 
for  your  prayers.  I  need  not  to  be  en- 
treated of  you.  Stand  still,  and  see  the 
salvation  of  the  Lord !  "  It  was  a  peculiar 
experience.  I  have  never  had  anything 
just  like  it.  Yet  with  it  came  the  convic- 
tion that  all  was  right.  I  realized  that 
God  was  working. 

Going  to  my  office  in  the  morning,  I 
found  my  associate  there,  and,  without 
speaking  of  what  had  happened  to  me,  I 
asked  him  if  he  had  remembered  his 
promise  of  prayer.  "  Yes,  indeed,"  he 
said,  "  and  there  was  a  singular  occurrence 
as  I  attempted  to  pray."  Then  he  told  of 
127 


miuatrative  Bnswers  to  ipra^er 

his  experience  as  almost  identical  with 
mine.  He  was  confident,  he  said,  that  the 
Lord  had  taken  this  matter  in  hand. 

The  Commission  met  in  Parlor  C  of  the 
Continental  Hotel.  When  I  met  its  presi- 
dent there  that  day,  he  said  to  me  :  "  Chap- 
lain, there  is  a  remarkable  change  here 
since  last  night.  They  are  not  so  sure  as 
they  were  of  carrying  their  point.  I  doubt 
if  they  will." 

Then  I  met  Mr.  George  H.  Corliss, 
of  Rhode  Island,  whose  mammoth  engine 
was  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  exhibition, 
and  the  motive-power  of  all  its  machinery. 
He,  himself  a  devout  and  earnest  Christian, 
was  to  present  the  majority  report  in  re- 
newed favor  of  Sunday  closing.  We  had 
already  talked  this  matter  over  together, 
and  had,  only  the  day  before,  spoken  to 
each  other  of  the  evident  majority  in  favor 
of  the  proposed  change.  He  now  spoke  of 
the  remarkable  change  that  had  come  over 
several  of  the  members  since  the  day  before, 

and  he  said  he  believed  that  the  vote  would 
128 


IHow  0ot)  XeO  tbe  XeaOccs 

be  different  from  what  had  seemed  probable 
twenty-four  hours  earlier. 

After  the  other  business  of  the  day  was 
completed,  the  two  reports  on  Sunday 
opening  were  presented,  and  discussion 
began.  Mr.  Corliss  declared  that,  while 
he  had  enjoyed  his  work  for  the  exhibi- 
tion, and  had  fondly  hoped  for  the  success 
of  the  undertaking,  if  the  exhibition  was 
not  to  be  closed  on  Sunday  nothing  was 
left  of  his  best  hopes  but  ashes,  and  he 
could  only  wish  that  all  he  had  done  for 
the  Centennial  was  utterly  blotted  out. 

Professor  Campbell  of  Indiana,  secretaiy 
of  the  Commission,  reminded  the  Commis- 
sioners that  state  fairs  throughout  the 
country  were  uniformly  closed  on  Sunday. 
He  was  sure,  moreover,  that  if  the  Centen- 
nial Exhibition  were  open  on  Sunday,  the 
slums  of  New  York  and  Baltimore,  and 
other  cities,  would  be  emptied  into  Phila- 
delphia on  that  day,  so  that  this  city  would 
be  overrun  with  the  viler  classes  in  those 
communities. 

129 


Illustrative  Bnewers  to  fprapcr 

In  favor  of  the  minority  report,  claiming 
that  the  exhibition  should  be  opened  on 
Sundays,  it  was  said  that  the  laboring 
classes  needed  and  desired  it;  that  the 
exhibition  itself  was  not  like  a  place  of 
amusement,  but  rather  like  a  public  library 
or  art  gallery,  and  that  its  influence  would 
be  ennobling  on  all  who  attended  it ;  more- 
over, that  anyhow  it  would  pay.  In  favor 
of  this  report  there  were  earnest  words 
from  at  least  one  member  of  the  Commis- 
sion, who  was  honestly  a  believer  in  the 
Sunday  opening  on  its  merits.  There  was 
also  more  or  less  talk  about  "bigotry," 
and  "intolerance,"  and  "  Puritanism,"  with 
the  ordinary  measure  of  sentimentalism 
concerning  "the  true  and  the  beautiful." 
Of  course,  there  was  no  such  earnestness 
in  favor  of  the  Sunday  opening  as  there 
was  against  it;  for  there  was  a  lack,  on 
that  side,  of  the  moral  conviction  which 
gives  a  man  power  in  advocacy  of  the 
right. 

General  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  left  the 
130 


How  (5oD  %ct>  tbe  XeaDers 

chair — as  President  of  the  Commission — 
to  speak  in  favor  of  an  observance  of  the 
American  Sabbath.  He  insisted  that  the 
Commission  was  already  pledged  to  that 
course  by  its  previous  action  and  utter- 
ances, and  that  it  could  not  with  honor,  at 
this  late  day,  reverse  its  decision.  He 
believed  that  no  American  Congress  was 
ever  freighted  with  weightier  responsibili- 
ties for  the  welfare  of  the  American  people 
than  was  this  Commission  in  now  consider- 
ing the  Sunday  question.  If  the  doors  of 
the  Centennial  Exhibition  were  thrown 
open  on  Sunday,  one  of  the  safeguards  of 
our  nation  would  be  thereby  practically 
broken  down.  That  step  would  prove  the 
beginning  of  the  end  of  our  American  Sab- 
bath observance,  and  for  a  century  to  come 
men  would  point  to  this  day's  work  in 
justification  of  a  disregard  of  the  traditions 
and  customs  of  the  nation  in  honoring  the 
Christian  Sabbath.  Such  a  responsibility  he 
was  not  willing  to  assume.  He  asked  who 
of  the  Commission  would  dare  to  do  so. 
131 


HUustratlve  answers  to  prater 

General  Hawley  spoke  with  earnestness 
in  favor  of  the  observance  of  one  day  in 
seven,  not  merely  as  a  religious  duty,  but 
as  a  necessity  of  man's  physical  and  moral 
welfare.  He  said  that  if  any  people  were 
to  start  in  this  world  all  by  themselves, 
without  any  written  or  traditional  law  for 
their  guidance,  he  believed  that  they  would 
find,  by  experiment,  that  in  the  long  run 
they  could  do  more  work  and  better  in  six 
days  of  a  week  than  in  seven.  For  the 
sake  of  the  workingmen  inside  of  the  ex- 
hibition and  outside,  he  wanted  it  closed  on 
Sundays. 

Colonel   Holliday,  afterwards  Governor 

Holliday,  of  Virginia,  a  gallant  Confederate 

officer,  who  had  lost  his  right  arm  in  the 

war,  spoke  eloquently  in  support  of  the 

views  expressed  by  General  Hawley.     He 

asked  if  those  men  who  talked  of  "  the  true 

and  the  beautiful "  were  unwilling  to  give 

one  day  to  the  contemplation  of  the  true 

after  giving  six  days  to  the  study  of  the 

beautiful.     Turning  to  Mr.  Corliss,  he  said: 
132 


Mow  (505  %ct>  tbe  aLeaDeta 

"  That  magnificent  engine  of  yours,  sir,  is 
indeed  a  thing  of  beauty.  Each  mighty 
revolution  made  by  it  as  it  puts  and  keeps 
in  motion  for  six  days  in  the  week  the 
varied  machinery  which  covers  more  than 
fifteen  acres  of  space,  is  beautiful  beyond 
a  question.  But  is  there  any  truth  in  it? 
No,  sir !  Not  unless,  on  the  seventh  day, 
that  mighty  engine  stands  silent  before 
Almighty  God." 

Then  came  earnest  words  from  Governor 
McCormick  of  Arizona.  Those  who  re- 
membered his  activity  twenty  years  before 
in  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
work  in  New  York  City,  or  who  recalled 
his  brilliant  address  before  the  Third  Na- 
tional Sunday-school  Convention  at  Jayne's 
Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1859,  were  not 
surprised  that  he  also  pleaded  eloquently 
for  the  wise  and  sacred  observance  of  the 
Christian  Sabbath. 

When  a  friend  of  Sunday  opening 
sneered  at  the  others  as  "  narrow-minded 
Puritans,"  a  member  of  the  Commission, 
133 


miustratlve  Bnswers  to  IPra^cr 

whose  position  had  not  been  known,  called 
out,  "  I'm  on  that  side,  but  don't  call  me 
a  Puritan.  In  politics,  I'm  an  old  line 
Democrat;  in  religion,  I'm  a  Universalist. 
There's  not  much  Puritanism  in  me." 

"Then  you  don't  believe  in  any  hell," 
said  one. 

"  I  believe  you'll  have  a  hell  here  in 
Philadelphia,  if  you  open  those  exhibition 
gates  Sundays,"  was  the  earnest  and  start- 
ling response. 

The  feeling  had  by  this  time  reached  a 
rare  degree  of  intensity  for  any  deliberative 
body.  Members  of  the  Commission  who 
had  thought  lightly  of  the  whole  matter  at 
first,  or  had  been  positively  in  favor  of  the 
Sunday  opening,  realized  that  a  momentous 
issue  was  presented,  and  that  they  must 
accept  the  responsibility  of  acting  for  or 
against  the  right.  There  were  loud  calls 
of  "  Question  !  Question  !  "  by  those  who 
were  ready  to  finally  record  themselves. 

At  this  moment  an  impressive  incident 
occurred.  Mr.  Haynes,  of  Nevada,  rose, 
134 


Mow  (300  %ct>  tbc  XeaOets 

and  said :  "  Mr.  President,  before  the  ques- 
tion is  taken,  I  wish  to  say  a  word.     I  feel 
like  a   returned   prodigal,  and    I  want  to 
make   a   confession.       More    than   twenty 
years    ago,  I    went   out   from  an    Eastern 
home  to  the  Far  West.     I  have  lived  since 
then  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where 
we  hardly  have  a  Sabbath,  and  where  other 
than  the  best  moral  influences  are  all  about 
us.     But,  as  I  have  listened  here  this  after- 
noon,  old   memories   have  come   back  to 
me."      Here   the    speaker    struggled   with 
strong    emotion,    and    he    continued    with 
choking   voice:    "All    these   truths    were 
familiar  to  me  long  ago,  and   it  seems  to 
me  again  to-day  that  I  hear  them  repeated 
as  I  used  to  listen  to  them  from  the  lips  of 
my    sainted    mother,  as,  every    evening,  I 
kneeled  by  her  side  in  prayer.     I  want  to 
give   my   vote   in  favor   of  observing  the 
Christian  Sabbath." 

The  effect  of  this  remarkable  speech  was 
overpowering.     It  seemed  to  represent  the 
uplifting  of  the  whole  Commission  in  moral 
135 


lUustrattvc  Bnswers  to  IPraiger 

character  and  tone,  and  men  who  would  an 
hour  before  have  voted  to  open  the  exhibi- 
tion for  seven  days  in  the  week  recorded 
their  names  heartily  in  favor  of  Sunday 
closing  when  the  vote  was  called.  Even 
the  member  of  the  Commission,  who  had 
been  counted  a  representative  of  the  largest 
monied  interests  pressing  for  the  change, 
voted  in  favor  of  the  report  of  Mr.  Corliss. 
The  vote  stood  twenty -seven  for  closing 
to  nine  for  opening ;  and  so  the  question 
was  settled — and  settled  right.  God  had 
led  the  leaders.  God  be  praised  for  this 
result ! 


136 


XVII 

IHelp  In  tbe  Ult^bt  !Prai?e&  for, 
an^  Sent 

It  matters  not  what  is  the  need  of  a  child 
of  God,  or  when  or  where  he  experiences 
that  need.  He  is  privileged  to  make  it 
known  to  his  Father,  and  to  trust  that  it 
will  be  supplied  according  to  that  Father's 
love  and  wisdom.  Of  course,  the  supply 
will  be  through  natural  means,  but  ever  as 
the  natural  is  supernaturally  controlled. 
Illustrations  of  this  truth  are  many  and 
varied,  but  they  all  are  alike  consistent 
with  the  principles  on  which  every  faith- 
filled  prayer  must  rest. 

Many  years  ago  a  distinguished  clergy- 
man and  college  officer  gave  me  an  inci- 
dent illustrating  such  prayer  and  its  answer 
in  his  own  family,  which  profoundly  im- 
pressed me,  and  which  is  worthy  of  men- 
137 


miustrattve  Answers  to  ipraiset 

tion  in  this  record  of  experiences.  While 
its  first  mention  to  me  was  many  }^ears 
ago,  I  have,  on  the  very  day  that  I  write 
this  chapter,  verified  my  recollection  of 
the  incident  by  hearing  it  anew  from  the 
person  who  offered  the  prayer  and  received 
the  answer. 

My  friend's  residence  was  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  college,  in  a  somewhat 
secluded  spot,  quite  apart  from  the  traveled 
highway.  He  was  temporarily  away  from 
his  home.  His  wife  and  children,  with  an 
invalid  friend  of  the  wife,  were,  in  a  sense, 
alone  in  the  house.  In  the  dead  of  night, 
the  wife  was  started  from  her  sleep  by 
hearing,  on  the  floor  below,  the  iron  bolt 
of  the  parlor  window-shutters  thrown  back. 
At  once  she  realized  that  a  burglar,  or 
other  intruder,  was  forcing  an  entrance. 
What  should  she  do?  How  could  she 
secure  help? 

This  was  about  the  time  when  Professor 
Huxley  had  been  lecturing  and  writing  on 
the  unwisdom  of  expecting  direct  answers 
138 


tHclp  in  tbc  miabt  praiseD  tot,  anD  Sent 

to  specific  prayers.  The  thought  of  this 
flashed  on  the  mind  of  this  startled  believer, 
awakened  out  of  her  sleep.  And  the  other 
thought  quickly  followed  :  "  God  can  help 
me  now,  and  I  will  pray  to  him."  Then 
the  prayer  went  up :  "  Lord,  send  a  police- 
man to  our  rescue."  The  policeman  on 
the  beat  nearest  that  residence  was  accus- 
tomed to  visit  the  grounds  at  certain  hours 
of  the  night,  and  therefore  the  desire  was 
a  natural  one,  on  her  part,  that  he  should 
appear  just  at  this  juncture. 

Just  then  there  was  heard  the  report  of 
a  pistol  in  front  of  the  house.  Other  shots 
followed.  The  startled  believer  sprang 
from  her  bed  to  look  out  of  her  front  win- 
dow. By  the  bright  moonlight  she  could 
see  signs  of  confusion  in  the  shrubbery 
near  the  house ;  and  then  a  little  boat 
pushing  out  on  the  stream  beyond  the 
grounds.  Soon  a  policeman  appeared  be- 
fore the  house,  and  called  out,  saying  that 
burglars  had  been  discovered  in  the  house. 

He  asked  to  be  admitted,  so  as  to  see  what 
139 


miusttattve  Answers  to  iPtaiset 

harm  had  been  done.  On  being  admitted, 
he  told  his  story. 

He  had  visited  the  house  and  grounds 
on  his  usual  rounds.  Finding  all  right  he 
was  returning  to  the  highway  when  sud- 
denly, as  he  said,  something  told  him  to 
go  back  and  look  again.  This  must  have 
been  about  the  time  that  the  believer  was 
asking  God  to  send  a  policeman  for  her 
protection.  As  he  neared  the  house  again, 
he  saw  a  man  entering  the  opened  par- 
lor window.  The  pistol-shots  were  fired 
on  both  sides.  The  burglar  fled  to  the 
river,  and  attempted  to  escape,  but,  being 
wounded,  he  was  disabled,  and  drowned. 
He  left  burglars'  tools  behind  him.  On  his 
person  were  found  treasures  taken  from 
neighboring  houses,  as  others  would  have 
been  from  this  one  but  for  this  interruption. 

Such  an  incident  might  have  had  no 
weight  with  Professor  Huxley  ;  but  it  con- 
firmed the  faith  of  that  praying  believer 
and  of  others.     Is  it  not  good  to  believe, 

and  to  know  ? 

140 


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